UBRARY OF CONGRESS 




DODEDBTSOaS 



THE 



MILK TRADE 



a-fe'-s 



f 



vs 



tto Mn\ art ^kinitg, 



AN ACCOUNT OF TnR SALE OF PURE AND ADTTLTERATED MILK — THE DAILY AND 
YKARLY CONSUMPTION — THE AMOUNT OF PROPERTY INVESTED IN THE BUSINESS — 
THE MILK-DEALERS AND DAIRYMEN OF ORANGE AND OTHER COUNTIES — INJURIOUS 
EFFECTS OF IMPURE MILK ON CHILDREN — ADVICE TO COUNTRY DAIRYMEN. 



BY JOHN MULLALY. 



©J^ftt) an XntroTJuction, 
By R. T. Trall, M.D. 




NEW YORK: 
FOWLERS AND WELLS, PUBL ISH ERS, 

CixNTON Haix, 181 Nassau Steeet. 

Boston, 142 Wasbington-et.] 1 853 



[London, No. 149 Strani 







Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by 

FOWLERS AND WELLS, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 
District of New Yorlc. 



NEW TOEK STEREOTYPE ASSOCIATION, 

201 WiUiam Street. 



g E t r i tt r t i n u , 

BY R. T. TEALL, M.D. 

The intrinsic importance of the facts and 
figures so well presented in the following 
pages, ought to secure for this little book the 
earnest attention of the community, without 
introduction or commendation from any one. 
But, unfortunately, there is a degree of apathy 
abroad on the subject of milk-food, from which 
it has hitherto been impossible fully to arouse 
the public mind. It is a matter of common 
conversation among our citizens ; it is a source 
of continual apprehension on the part of moth- 
ers and nurses ; it is frequently asserted in 
the newspapers ; and it is the unanimous 



iv Introduction. 

declaration of medical men, tliat thousands of 
children annually sicken and die in tliis city, 
from tlie effects of bad milk. And tke same 
sad story is told, and the same medical testi- 
mony is repeated year after year, and yet tke 
evil goes on unchecked — because, by this 
traffic men can " put money in their purses." 

Were placards to be posted around the 
streets of this city and its suburbs, announcing 
in glaring capitals that the inhabitants of New 
York, Brooklyn, Williamsburgh, and Jersey 
City, pay annually the sum of theee millions 
OF DOLLARS for adulterated and distillery or 
slop milk ; and nearly half a million of dollars 
for the water with which both pure and impure 
milk is diluted; and that nearly two thirds 
of all the milk consumed in the above-named 
places is a spuriously manufactured article, 
would not the people, think you, reader, gaze 
at the appalling proclamation in utter incre- 
dulity or inexpressible astonishment ? Would 
they not wonder at the indifference of the 



Intkuduction 



swindled sufferers ; be amazed at that silence 
of our municipal authorities wliicli is equiva- 
lent to consent, and exclaim, more indignantly 
than usual on occasions of outrage, " Where 
are the Policed' But, fellow-citizens, these 
statements are diabolical facts and disgraceful 

realities. 

The records of our city mortality for the 
last ^ve or six years show an average number 
of deaths of about seventee7i tJiousa/nd. Of 
these seventeen thousand nearly one half are 
of children under five years of age, while 
infants less than one year old make up almost 
one fourth of the whole number. Thus we 
may calculate, so long as the present order of 
things continues, with almost unerring cer- 
tainty, on the deaths of eight or nine thousand 
chiUren annually, which number will, of 
course, augment as our population increases. 

We do not see, among the returns made to 
the Inspector's office, any deaths from a disease 
called milk-poison. The majority are desig- 



vi Introduction 



nated as having died of convulsions, maras- 
mus, diarrhea, dysentery, and cholera infan- 
tum. Yet physicians tell us, most truly, that 
a large proportion of all the above prevalent 
diseases are caused by impure or adulterated 
milk. It is very difficult for unprofessional 
persons to perceive and understand the pri- 
mary or predisposing causes of infantile dis- 
eases, The immediate or exciting causes are 
sufficiently apparent : as taking cold, indigest- 
ible food, etc. But in most cases these excit- 
ing causes would only induce temporary and 
trifling indisposition, were it not that some 
morbific agent oi* agents, operating like a slow 
poison, had produced a predisposition to dis- 
ease ; and the force of the morbific influence is 
proportioned always to the extent of the pre- 
disposition. The physician can, therefore, 
readily comprehend how the habitual use 
of swill milk will so impair the digestive 
organs, and derange the nutritive functions, 
that, in the warm season, when the organic 



Intkoduction . ^'11 



fibers are relaxed, and tlie determination of 
irritation is from tlie external surface to tlie 
internal mucous membrane, tlie slightest er- 
ror in regimen may develop a fatal form of 
bowel complaint; or in case no material error, 
in tbe voluntary liabits and nursing manage- 
ment is committed, bow the young cbild 
sball gradually pine away, decline, and die 
of atrox^by, marasmus, or scrofula. 

In bundreds of cases tbe symptoms of pois- 
oning by swill milk are so obvious, tbat pby- 
sicians at once impute tbe disease to tbis 
cause, and probibit tbe use of milk entirely. 
And to tbis abstinence from bad milk are tbe 
patients mainly indebted for tbeir recovery. 
In my own practice I bave every year grown 
more suspicious of distillery milk, wbenever I 
have seen a cbild presenting a sickly appear- 
ance, loose, flabby flesb, weak joints, capricious 
appetite, frequent retcbings, and occasional 
vomitings, irregular bowels, witb tendency to 
diarrbea, and fetid breatb. Tbis assemblage 



viii Introduction. 

of symptoms is often attributed to worms ; 
but my experience lias fully satisfied me that 
slop milk is mucli more frequently the cause. 
I have known these symptoms defy all medi- 
cation, even of the Water-Cure kind, until the 
milk part of the diet was entirely abandoned, 
the parents all the while having the utmost 
confidence in the special honesty of tliew milk- 
man, and fully believing that nothing but 
" Pwre Orange County," ever came into their 
houses. 

Infants and young children, however, are 
not the only sufferers from the swill milk 
trade. Those who have ingenuity enough to 
sell the filthy secretion from slop-fed cows, un- 
der the name of milk, have also sufi[icient skill 
in the way of dealing to make a compound 
of swill milk, calves' or hogs' brains, molasses, 
and chalk, which they sell under the name of 
" Sweet Cream." This, too, is always fresh 
from " Orange" or " Westchester" counties, 
" Long Island" or " Connecticut !'* Those who 



Introduction. ix 



patronize ice-cream saloons, even tlie most 
fashionable resorts, would have a better assur- 
ance that real cream was employed in the 
preparation of cream cakes, cream pies, cream 
ices, and other dainty "delicacies," if they 
should personally see to the milking, and 
watch the process of setting, and skimming, 
and marketing, and cooking, with their own 
eyes. 

But this subject has not merely a sectional, 
it has a national importance. It is not in and 
around New York alone that fortunes are 
made by the manufacture and sale of swill 
milk. All of our large cities, we have reason 
to fear, are extensively engaged in the nefari- 
ous business. And in most of the principal 
cities of Europe, it is known to be among the 
chief causes of infant mortality. And surely, 
if there were no other causes of infantile dis- 
eases in the civilized world, we would have no 
occasion to marvel that children are hurried 
from their cradles to their graves at a rapid 



Introduction. 



rate, liowever much we miglit deplore tliat 
ignorance wMcli imputes to a " mysterious 
Providence" that which may more rationally 
and less blasphemously be charged to human 
cupidity and fraud. 

And here a piinciple of immense import- 
ance and of universal applicability suggests 
itself — the relations of property to humanity. 
Nothing can better illustrate the grand fund- 
amental error of the world's legislation thus 
far, than the people's acquiescence in the right 
of a rich man to get richer, although the busi- 
ness by which he swells his coffers costs the 
lives of hundreds or thousands of his fellow- 
beings ; and this abuse of our social system 
has one of its strongest demonstrations in the 
spurious milk business. 

Our statute laws and city ordinances declare, 
and the common law ordains, that no man 
shall sell poison to his neighbor under the 
name of food or drink ; nor an article which 
is in any material respect different from what 



Introduction. xi 



it is represented to be. Yet two liwndred 
thousand quarts of distillery slops are distrib- 
uted among our citizens every day in the year, 
at four or fiYQ cents a quart, labeled " Pure 
Country Milk." 

Nor is tbis stupenduous cheat done in a cor- 
ner. It seeks no hiding-place, but braves the 
open day. Even in the densely populated 
parts of our city, the huge piles of dark, dingy, 
brick walls, from which thick clouds of smoke 
and vapor ascend continually, denote the dis- 
tillery, where thousands of bushels of grain are 
daily converted into intoxicating liquor. But 
this is not enough. The object of the distiller 
is to get money. Why should he not econo- 
mize? He has invested fifty or a hundred 
thousand dollars of capital. Why should it 
not be made to pay to the utmost ? His prof- 
its in liquor-making, though great, can le 
vastly increased by using up the refuse slops 
in milk-making. Why should he not do so ? 
Whosoever alleges that liumanii/y requires of 



xii Intkoduction. 



liim not to do this thing, must recollect that 
he has 2i property interest in the matter. 

The milkmen's carts are seen, too, standing 
around the long rows of pestilential cow sta- 
bles, and going to and fro, at all hours of the 
day. And, what is more remarkable than all 
else, these things are seen by and known to 
all men in the city having authority in the 
premises ; to the Mayor ; to the City Inspect- 
or ; to the District Attorney ; to the Alder- 
men and Assistant Aldermen ; to the Chief of 
Police, and to the Board of Health. Why do 
none of them interfere ? 

Should any 2^oor man, whose whole property 
consists in a single cow, shut that cow up in 
a dark, damp, close under-cellar, feed her on 
the slops of his kitchen, or even on the swill 
slops brought from the neighboring distillery, 
and support his family by peddling out to his 
neighbors fifteen or twenty quarts of such 
milk a day, does any body believe, that after 
the nature of his business was known, it would 



Introduction. xiii 

be suffered to exist for a single week? No. 
Tlie strong arm of authority would come down 
upon him. He miglit beg or starve, and liis 
•family go to the poor-house or die^ before he, 
being a poor man, and hence of little conse- 
quence in the world, would be allowed to 
cause the death of any body. 

But the rich man erects a large and costly 
edifice. He keeps one or two thousand 
cows on his distillery slops. His milk trade 
amounts to ten or twenty thousand quarts 
daily. He is a v)liolesale dealer, and hence is 
not to be classed with the retailer above men- 
tioned. If the milk sold by the retailer should 
cause the death of one person he would be a 
fair candidate for the gallows, or liable to con- 
viction for manslaughter in some of its degrees. 
But the milk manufactured and sold by the 
wholesaler does actually cause the death of 
scores or hundreds; yet who ever thinks of 
arraigning him for murder? He walks in 
" high life," flourishes among the '' upper ten," 



xiv Intkoduction . 

goes in the *' first society," and moves among 
us a very paragon of respectability ! 

Let me draw a brief picture for his especial 
benefit. Suppose a very jjoor man, who gets 
his living, as the manner of some is, by selling 
ginger cakes — fiYe for a penny — should, in 
order to enhance his gains, use old, sour, musty 
flour, plaster of Paris, saw-dust, and impure 
sugar, instead of sweet, fresh flour, pure ginger, 
and good sugar, in the manufacture of the 
food he sells. Suppose, further, that this man 
should sell a penny or two's worth of his mer- 
chandise to some rich man's child- — the dis- 
tiller's in Sixteenth Street, if you please — and 
the child should eat the cakes, and be thrown 
into a fit of sickness in consequence, finally 
resulting in death — would not summary pun- 
ishment be meted out to the offender, the 
villain^ the muedeeee, on proof of such facts ? 
Is there, in any moral sense, any difference 
between the poor' cake-vender, and the ricli 
swill milk-maker, except that the latter can 



Introduction. xv 



not plead the temptation of want, nor tlie pal- 
liating circumstance of seeming necessity ? 

Legislators liave not yet, at least not gene- 
rally, become sufficiently intelligent nor hu- 
manitarian, to perceive the principle of eternal 
right and universal justice, which asserts that 
no one man can have a better right to prop- 
erty than another has to life. As yet, in 
the most enlightened countries, almost the 
whole scope and tenor of legislation places 
the protection of property far above the 
sanctity of life. On what other supposition 
can any one account for the existence of 
such a nuisance as a distillery among us, 
or the toleration of the impure milk traffic, 
which every body knows is carried on exten- 
sively among and around us ? 

Our law makers and law administrators 
evade responsibility by aifecting some vague 
and indehnable regard for the rights of prop- 
erty, the interests of business, the reserved 
rights of individuals, etc., as though nobody 



xvi Intkoduction. 

had any business witli rights save those who 
work mischief and scatter misery. The dis- 
tiller, too, has a way of proving himself in no 
way morally, though he may be pecuniarily, 
associated with his own business. And, indeed, 
all parties to the fraudulent traffic seem to 
have conveniently easy and elastic consciences, 
which enable them to shirk all moral ac- 
countability. The distiller himself does not 
directly sell any of his swill milk. His hands, 
he appears to think, are clear enough of that 
murder. He only sells his refuse slops to 
others ; or, rather, he keeps other persons' cows 
on this food, at so much a head per week. 
For all he cares^ his customers, who own the 
cows, may feed the milk they take away from 
the stables to tJieir cows or pigs, or eat it 
themselves. He hnows they will sell it to the 
people under the fictitious name of " Pure 
Milk." But does his knowing it make it so ? 
Such is his "lower law" subterfuge. And 
then the peddler who owns the cows, has an 



I N T li (J D IT C T I O N . XVli 



equally legitimate method of " wliij)ping the 
clevdl round the stumj)." He buys the milk- 
making slop, and pays for it. The i^eople buy 
milk made of slop of him. Isn't this a fair 
business transaction ? It is no worse for him 
to sell it to the people who are willing to pay 
for it, than for the distiller virtually to sell 
it to him ; and as for the label, " Orange 
County," that is only the way of trade ; and 
so he logically twists himself out of all orig- 
inal or imputed sin or iniquity in the trans- 
action. 

But I am perhaps expatiating too largely on 
such thoughts as the reading of the work 
before us can hardly fail to suggest. I will 
remark, however, in conclusion, that the chief 
and great excellency of the work, consists in 
its giving a fail*, faithful, and impartial view 
of the whole milk trade — its uses as well as 
abuses. Other works have dwelt with just 
severity, yet almost exclusively, on the evil 
effects of impure milk. But this author has 



xviii Intkoduction. 



given us a complete history of botli good and 
bad milk. And unless our City Inspector, 
whose special duty it is to see to the abate- 
ment of all nuisances, shall turn his attention 
officially to distilleries and their accompani- 
ments, the cow stables, there is little hope of 
any beneficial change, except in arousing the 
public mind to the importance of pure milk, 
and spreading abroad such general informa- 
tion as will increase the supply of the pure 
r.rticle, for which purpose the work now com- 
mended to the public is admirably adapted. 



l^nntentB. 



First Establishment of Country Milk Dairies— Adulterated and Swill Milk— Trans- 
portation of MUk over the Harlem, Erie, and Hudson Eiver Railroads. .Page 21 

Increased Supply of Pure Country Milk— The Milk Freight of the New HaTOQ 
Eailroad— The New Jersey Country and Swill Milk— Daily Supply of Country 



Milk. 



81 



©iiapter S^firce. 



Fraudulent Practices of Swill Milkmen— Description of a Swill Milk Establish- 
ment, and its Internal Economy— Disgusting Practices and Brutality of those 
Employed in them gg 

©Jnpter iFour. 

Profit of the Swill Milk business-Great Mortality and Disease among Cows fed 
on Swill— The Drivers of Milk Carts, the Stable Keepers, and the « Small Deal- 
ers"— Process of AdulteraMfin 40 

€t>aptcr ifibe. 

Cow Stables of London— The City Inspector and the SwiU Nuisance— Diary of a 
Cow Stable— The Fortieth Street Establishment 53 



XX Contents. 



€:|)aj)ter Si):. 

The Swill Milk Business in "Williamsburg, Wallabout, and Brooklyn — Milk Trans- 
ported from those Places to New York — The Milk Carrier — Manufacture of 
Buttermilk — The Jersey City MUk Business Page 65 

€:t)aa)tev Seben. 

The Milk and Dairies of Orange T!ounty — The Quality of Milk Affected by the 
Diet of Cattle — Bovine Instinct and Antipathies — Process of Cooling Milk. . 76 

€|)aj>ter 3Biflt)t. 

Profits of Country Dairymen— Great Increase in the Supply of Milk by the Erie 
EaUroad— The Stabling and Food of Cattle — ^A Word of Advice to Dairy- 
men 86 

e|)a|)ter Kfne. 

Estimate of Capital Invested in the Milk Business — Yearly Receipts from the 
Sale of all kinds of Milk 98 

€:|)aiiter STeti. 

Necessity for an Ordinance to regulate the Sale of Milk, and to prevent its Adul- 
teration — History of the Orange County Milk Association 101 

OCSapter ISleben. 

Importance of Milk as an article of Diet — Infant Mortality produced by Impure 
Milk — Chemical Analysis of diflferent kinds of Milk — A Case of Fatal Milk 
Sickness — ^Nutritious Properties of Milk — Conclusion 110 



C|e ptilk Crah, 



(Ctmptn (Diir. 

First Establishment of Country Milk Dairies — Adulterated and Swill Milk — Trans 
portation of MUk over the Harlem, Erie, and Hudson River Railroads. 

It is now about fifteen years since the importance 
of this subject was first brought to the notice of the 
public, in a series of lectures delivered by Mr. K. M. 
Hartley, upon the use of impure and unhealthy milk, 
and its pernicious effects upon the general health. 
The facts that were then made known caused consid- 
erable excitement throughout New York and its vi- 
cinity, and the gentleman who had the hardihood to 
expose the evil with a view to its correction, me 
not only with the opposition of those interested ir 
the manufacture of what is called "swill milk," but 
was actually assaulted for his temerity. The excite- 
ment, however, was productive of good effects, and 
resulted in attracting the attention of the public to 



22 The Milk Trade. 

the best means for the removal of the grievances 
complained of. 

Dairies for the sale of pure comitry milk were 
then, for the first time, established, and des]jite the 
exertions of the distillers and others interested in 
the sale of the bad milk to injure them in every pos- 
sible way, they have succeeded, to a great extent, 
in supplying the city with the healthy article. It 
will hardly be credited that, at the time the subject 
was first agitated, there was not one dairy in the city 
for the exclusive sale of pure country milk, and the 
only means by which it could be obtained was by 
having it conveyed direct from the country, in cans, 
to the persons requiring it. In this way the custo- 
mer is always certain of obtaining it pure from the 
cow, for we never knew of a case in which it was 
adulterated by the farmer. This seems to be a prac- 
tice which belongs exclusively to our city dairies 
and milkmen. 

In fact, so apprehensive are some families as to 
the quality of milk that is sold in New York, that 
they will not purchase it at the dairies, but must 
have what they require for their own use sent in 
from the country ; and these apprehensions would 



Pure and Impure Milk. 23 

seem to be well founded, if wemight judge from an 
instance that recently occurred in this city, where 
swill milk was furnished in place of the pure article, 
and in direct violation of the contract made between 
the parties. 

The great caution of such persons is not to be won- 
dered at, when we consider the deleterious effects 
of bad milk upon the human system, and particular- 
ly upon the health of infants, whose weak constitu- 
tions render them more liable to be affected by it. 

Milk is the principal article of food of all chil- 
dren, and when it is impure it is not reasonable to 
suppose that they can be healthy. Hundreds of 
them die annually in New York from sickness pro- 
duced by it alone ; but as this is a subject that 
would require a separate chapter, we will leave its 
consideration for another time. 

We have said that there are dairies for the sale of 
pure country milk in this city, and we know, from 
actual experience, that it can be purchased as it is 
procured from the cow, but at a somewhat higher 
cost than it is generally furnished by milkmen. 
The number of persons and companies engaged in 
the sale of pure milk, is estimated at two hundred 



24 The Milk Trade. 

and fifty, or about one half the number of those who 
sell the impure kind. 

When we speak of pure milk in connection with 
city dealers, we mean to be understood as speaking 
only of milk that is not adulterated by the admix- 
ture of chalk or whiting, magnesia, molasses, flour, 
starch, and other foreign substances, but which is 
simply diluted with water and flavored with a little 
salt to keep it sweet. After all, this diluting it with 
water is perfectly innocent in comparison with the 
horrible, murderous system that some dairymen 
adopt to make the pure milk profitable to themselves 
and injurious to their customers. Water weakens 
the article, but does not render it imhealthy and 
unfit for the use of human beings ; but when we 
come to speak of drinking a compound of milk, 
chalk, molasses (and some say calves' brains, but 
this we can not believe), it is another thing. 

The quantity of milk manufactured in this way 
is not so large as that made from distillery grains 
and swill, and which, as we have already intimated, 
forms about two thirds of the quantity consumed in 
New York, Williamsburgh, Brooklyn, and Jersey 
City. A great proportion of the swill milk itself i? 



Westchester County Milk. 25 

rendered even still more nnhealthy and pernicious 
by adulteration. We have, at great labor and 
trouble, been enabled to collect the following sta- 
tistics in relation to the amount of milk conveyed 
by the different railroads to the city. We find, 
from the freight account of the JSTew York and Har- 
lem Railroad, that the quantity sent from the differ- 
ent stations along this route exceeds that received 
over any other road. The milk is chiefly , from 
Westchester county, which is said to contain some 
of the finest grazing land in the state of l^ew 
York, and it is believed by some to be equal to the 
far-famed Orange county milk. The milk is by 
some considered as more healthy for children ; but 
this may be regarded as a mere matter of fancy. 
The subjoined table gives the exact quantity re- 
ceived by the Harlem road, and the amount of re- 
ceipts during the year 1851. 

Receipts. Quarts. 

January $3,521 14 704,228 

February 3,332 04 666,408 

March 4,10136 820,272 

April 4,938 31 987,662 

May 6,590 77 1,318,154 

June 7,124 08 1,424,816 

Total $29,607 70 5.921 ,540 

2 



26 The Milk Tkade. 



Eeceipts. Quarts. 

Amount brought forward.. $29,607 70 5,921,540 

July 7,546 94 1,509,388 

August 6,457 22 1,291,444 

September 5,392 50 1,078,500 

October 4,963 68 992,736 

November 4,538 89 917,778 

December 4,613 96 922,792 

Total $QS,120 89 12,634,178 

This table gives us 12,634,178 quarts as the 
quantity sent over this road in one year, or a daily 
average of 34,614: quarts. The revenue which the 
company derives from this one article of freight is 
very considerable, amounting, as may be seen by 
reference to the table, to $63,120 89. 

Five years ago the receipts were not more than 
half as large ; but so great has been the demand 
for the pure milk, that during the present year there 
has been a great increase in the amount. For one 
day — the lllh of July, 1S51 — we were informed by 
one of the agents of this road, the total receipts of 
milk amounted to 40,800 quarts. The cost of trans- 
portation throughout the route is about one half 
cent per quart, and the milk is sent in cans capable 
of containing from ten to twenty, and sometimes as 
many as thirty gallons. To the facilities presented 
by this road for the transportation of milk, the pub- 



Milk Statistics. 27 

lie are much indebted for the increased supply ob- 
tained during the present year. As a proof of this, 
it is only necessary to refer to the following table, 
and to compare it with that already given. It pre- 
sents an accurate account of the milk receipts during 
the first six months of the present year : 

Receipts. Quarts. 

January P,767 29 953,458 

February 4,673 14 934,628 

March 5,602 86 1,120,572 

April 6,129 07 1,225,814 

May 8,226 28 1,645,256 

June 9,547 95 1,909,590 

Total $38,946 59 7,789,318 

During the first six months of 1851 there were 
5,921,540 quarts of milk received at the Harlem 
Railroad depot, or 1,867,778 less than the amount 
transported over the same road for the first six 
months of the present year. 

The amount of milk transported over the Erie 
Railroad from the date of its opening in 1842 to the 
close of June, 1850, amounted to 53,713,244 quarts. 
In 1843 it did not exceed 3,181,505 ; but each suc- 
ceeding year it increased more than a million of 
quarts, and in 1851 the quantity supplied from the 
same source was 12,610,556. This presents an in- 



28 The Milk Tkade. 

crease of 9,439,051, for the transportation of which 
alone $47,195 26 were received. The following 
table, however, gives the monthly receipts, which 
will be found more satisfactory, as exhibiting the 
great increase which has taken place : 

Eeceipts. Quarts. 

January #3,260 90 652,180 

February 3,342 60 668,520 

March 4,208 55 841,710 

April 5,007 25 1,001,450 

May: 6,802 50 1,360,500 

June 7,403 30 1,480^660 

July 8,43145 1,686,290 

August 7,248 55 1,449,710 

September 5,734 20 1,146,840 

October 4,505 95 901,190 

November 3,703 80 740,760 

December . 3,403 70 680,740 

Total #63,052 78 12,610,556 

The increase for the first half of the year 1852 
is very large, being more than one half the amount 
received during the year 1851. The comparison 
may be made from the following table, presenting 
the receipts during the first six months of 1852 : 

Eeceipts. Quarts. 

January #3,340 95 668,190 

February 3,463 05 692,610 

March 4,389 95 877,990 

April 4,995 75 999,150 

May 7,119 95 1,423,990 

June 8,70150 1,740,300 

Total $32,011 15 6,402,230 



Statistics Continued. 29 

It is, comparatively speaking, a very short time 
since tlie Hudson River Railroad was opened, yet 
tlie amount of milk now sent over it from tlie differ- 
ent stations, to a distance of about eighty miles 
from 'New York, is very considerable. The road, 
it will be remembered, has not been more than 
three years in operation, and the receipts for the 
first two years were small in comparison with the 
amount at present received. The first milk freight 
did not exceed four hundred quarts, and the re- 
ceipts therefor amounted to about two dollars. Of 
the many stations along the route, the greatest 
quantity is sent from Sing Sing, Peekskill, Starks- 
burg, and Stuyvesant. The other stations are 
Dearmans, Tarrytown, Croton, Crugers, Garrisons, 
Fishkill, Poughkeepsie, Rhinebeck, and East Camp. 
The annexed table gives the amount conveyed to 
the city by this road for the year commencing Au- 
gust, 1851, and ending July, 1852 : 

Eeceipts. Quarts. 

August 1630,05 144,012 

September 510 26 116,518 

October 404 86 92,540 

November 337 68 77,184 

P,882 85 430,254 



30 The Milk Trade. 

Eeceipts. Quarts. 

Amount brought forward . . $1,882 85 430,254 

December 332 87 76,084 

January 332 80 76,096 

February 304 27 69,548 

March 373 82 85,220 

April 399 49 91,312 

May 695 17 158,896 

June 890 80 203,616 

July 906 12 207,112 

Total $6,118 48 1,398,138 

This, it must be admitted, is a large addition to 
the annual amount of milk consumed in the city. 
It tends to the partial decrease of the impure and 
adulterated milk, and we maj look forward with 
hope to the time when, through the agency of 
steam, the whole traffic in it will be destroyed. 



(01ia|itrt €inD. 

Increased Supply of Pure Country Millc— The Milk Freight of the New Haven 
Railroad— The N-ew Jersey Country and Swill Milk— Daily Supply of Country 
Milk. 

In the preceding cliapter we gave the amount of 
milk brought over the Erie, Harlem, and Hudson 
Kiver Eailroads during one year. From those sta- 
tistics, it will be seen that the supply received in 
the city during the three months of summer is more 
than double the quantity received in winter. For 
instance, the number of quarts transported over 
the Erie Kailroad in July of 1851 amounted to 
1,686,290, while during the month of January of 
the same year it did not exceed 652,180. This is 
attributable to the scarcity of the proper vegetable 
diet in the winter season, and to other causes, which 
will be explained hereafter. 

In 1841, as estimated by Mr. Hartley, the daily 
supply was about 45,000 quarts, or 16,405,000 for 



32 The Milk Tkade. 

tlie twelve months ; and of this bnt a very small 
proportion was pure. In fact, it was impossible 
then to procure it from the country, for the whole 
business was monopolized by the swill milkmen. 
The quantity of the pure article at present received 
from the country exceeds the aggregate of all kinds 
in 1841, when 'New York had a population of 
312,000. 

When it became generally knowm, however, that 
pure milk could be obtained at a little more than 
the price paid for the fncmufachired article, all that 
could be transported over the railroads met with 
immediate sale. But still, strange to say, there was 
no perceptible reduction in the quantity of the im- 
pure and adulterated kind, and the slop and swill 
establishments were as flourishing as ever till about 
five or six years ago, when the daily distribution 
was diminished by a few thousand quarts. This, 
though a trifling decrease, is still sufiicient to prove 
that a larger supply of the pure country milk would 
diminish the sale of the unhealthy kind, to a great 
extent, if it should not w^holly abolish it. 

By the I^ew Haven road, during the year 1851, 
there were 907,332 quarts sent to the city, the 



Increased Supply of Pure Milk. 33 

transportation of which cost $4,336 69. This is 
small in comparison with the quantity received by 
the other roads, but it is only a few years since 
milk was first transported over it. The following 
table exhibits the monthly receipts during 1851 : 

Eeceipts. Quarts. 

January pi7 04 43,408 

February 222 38 44,476 

March 277 07 55,412 

April 317 69 63,536 

May 426 19 85,236 

June 500 40 100,008 

July 574 12 114,824 

August 552 61 110,524 

September 362 40 72,480 

October 315 37 63,072 

November 29194 58,388 

December 279 48 55,896 

Total $4,336 69 907,332 

The increase for the first six months of the pres- 
ent year (1852) is very large, as may be seen by 
the annexed table. The quantity received during 
that period was 621,220 quarts, or more than double 
the receipts for the first half year of 1851. 

Eeceipts. Quarts. 

January $418 65 83,608 

February 405 42 80,884 

March 489 51 97,888 

April 475 40 95,288 

May 607 70 117,540 

June 730 26 146,012 

Total $3,126 97 621,220 



34 Til i: Milk Trade. 

The report of the freight business of this road 
next year will, it is expected, show a still larger 
increase. The farmers whose lands lie sufficiently 
near any of the stations along the route, to enable 
them to transport their milk to ISTew York, are only 
beginning to enter into the business with spirit. 
Tliey perceive how profitable it may be made, and 
many who possessed only a dozen head of cattle a 
few years ago, are now rapidly increasing their 
stock to supply the constantly increasing demand 
for milk. The land is excellent, and peculiarly 
adapted for pasturage, and there is every reason to 
believe that in four or five years hence, it will 
become to l^ew York what Westchester county is 
now. 

The milk received from Jersey is very limited in 
comparison with the quantity procured from other 
quarters. The country does not aflPord such good 
pasturage as either Orange or Westchester county, 
and the farmers do not devote so much of their 
attention to the raising of cattle. But although 
Jersey can not in any sense be called a " land flow- 
ing with milk and honey," the city supplies New 
York with a considerable proportion of its swill milk. 



J E K S E Y M I L K . 35 

Several thousand quarts of this stuff are brought to 
us by the boats weekly, although, strange to say, 
the people of that city are themselves supplied by 
JSTew York milkmen, who, we understand, furnish 
them . with the pure article. This is certainly re- 
turning good for evil, a Christian magnanimity for 
which it is hoped the Jerseyites will ever hold us 
in grateful remembrance. The pure country milk 
is chiefly obtained from 'New Brunswick and Eliza- 
bethtown, whence it is brought over the railroad to 
Jersey City and thence to New York. The cost of 
transportation from Elizabethtown is six cents for 
every forty quarts, and eight cents for the same 
quantity from New Brunswick. 

The following is the report of the freight agent, of 
the amount of milk brought over the road from 
those places since the 1st of January, 1852: 

Receipts. Quarts. 

January $84 96 42,680 

February 120 96 61,760 

March 119 68 60,800 

April 133 76 67,720 

May 177 84 91,320 

June 154 08 78,560 

July 153 92 79,360 

Total $945 20 482,000 



36 The Milk Tbade. 

In addition to this, there are about one thousand 
quarts brought to Jersey City every day by the 
Eamapo and Paterson Kailroad, which, added to 
the foregoing, gives a total of 695,000 quarts trans- 
ported over the two roads from the 1st of January, 
1851, to the end of July. From Elizabethport, the 
steamboat Red Jacket brings to this city 1,500 
quarts daily, and about fifteen hundred quarts are 
received from l!Tewburgh by barges. 

That our readers may perceive at a glance the 

quantity of pure milk transported to this city from 

, the country by the railroads and boats, we give the 

following table, exhibiting the daily average for the 

year 1852, down to the end of June : 

Keceipts. Quarts. 

By the Harlem road , $213 99 42,798 

By the Erie road 175 89 35,177 

By the Hudson River road 16 46 3,762 

By the New Haven road 17 18 3,413 

By the Jersey road 4 44 2,263 

By the Ramapo and Paterson road 3 00 1,000 

By steamboat Red Jacket 5 00 1,500 

By barges from Newbnrgh 7 50 1 ,500 

Total.... $443 46 91,413 

The apparent disproportion of the prices of 
freight by the various conveyances, iv'^ caused by 



Daily Supply of Pure Milk. 37 



the difference in the distance from which it is 
brought. We find from this table that there are 
91,413 quarts of pure milk received in this city 
daily, but it would be a great mistake to suppose 
that this milk is sujDplied as pure as it is furnished 
Irom the country. Those only who are initiated 
into the mysteries of the milk trade here can have 
any adequate idea of ^the frauds perpetrated upon 
the public. We are certain we do not overesti- 
mate the quantity, when we say that of the milk 
used by private families one-fourth is water, and a 
mixture of chalk, flour, molasses, and other ingre- 
dients. There are a few companies in ISTew York 
which sell the milk as it comes from the cow, but 
the quantity is very small when compared with the 
adulterated kind. 

A well-practiced eye can tell at a glance what 
proportion of water is added, and we have been 
informed by a person experienced in these matters, 
that he has seen milk one third of which consisted 
of water mixed with chalk, magnesia, or some other 
substances, which gave it an appearance of consist- 
ency. The adulteration of milk, however, is too 
important a matter to be discussed in a single 



38 The Milk Trade 



chapter. We merely mean to show here, that the 
quantity of country milk, both pm-e and adulter- 
ated, consumed daily, exceeds 100,000 quarts, for 
which about $6,000 is paid, by pi-ivate families, 
hotels, confectionaries, restaurants, etc. It must 
not, however, be supposed that the practice of adul- 
teration is confined to country milk, for a large 
proportion of the produce of the swill stables is 
subjected to the same process. The ninety thou- 
sand quarts sent in from the country, is increased 
to about one hundred and twenty thousand, with 
the aid of the ingredients already named. 



Fraudiilent Practices of Swill Milkmen— Description of a Swill Milk Establish- 
ment, and its Internal Economy — ^Disgusting Practices and Brutality of those 
Employed in them. 

We have already stated that the swill milk daily 
consumed in this city, Williamsbnrgh, Brooklyn, 
and Jersey City equaled about two thirds the quan- 
tity of the pure country article, that is, near one 
hundred and eighty thousand quarts. This, how- 
ever, it must be understood, is not produced in 
ITew York alone, for there are extensive cow stables 
in the neighboring cities, from which the city re- 
ceives large supplies by steamboats. Every morn- 
ing about three o'clock, the boats upon the difierent 
ferries are crowded with milk wagons coming from 
the " sister cities" to distribute the poison among 
our people. Some of these vehicles are labeled 
" Pure Country Milk," " Westchester County 
Milk," " Orange County Milk," etc., so that those 



40 The Milk Tkade. 

who receive it are under the impression that it is 
the pure article with which they are supplied. This 
system of deception, although frequently exposed 
through the press, is still in fatally successful ope- 
ration. It is true, that some of the milkmen driving 
these wagons do supply their customers with excel- 
lent milk, but the number is verv small when com- 
pared with those who do not. There was one man 
engaged in the business who put up a notice that 
he sold " only pure milk and water^'' and so implicit 
was the confidence placed in his word that his 
business was very extensive. 

We have computed, as accurately as possible, the 
number of cows on this island which are fed upon 
grain, swill, and other slops, and find them amount- 
ing to about four thousand. Of these, more than 
one-half are kept in stables connected with distiller- 
ies, and the remainder are to be found in various 
sections of the city where stable rent is cheap. 
Some are as far as three and four miles beyond the 
city limits, and to these the swill is carried in bar- 
rels upon carts. The most extensive distillery in 
the city is that owned by a Mr. Johnson, at the foot 
of Sixteenth Street, on the INTorth E-iver. It pro- 



Frauds of Milkmen. 41 



duces more swill than any other in New York, and 
it is said, even more than any other in the United 
States. Whether this is correct or not, it is not 
necessary to inquire, but of one thing we are certain, 
that it is one of the greatest nuisances which has 
ever been tolerated by our authorities. 

We do not refer to the manufacture of spirits, for 
with that we have nothing to do in this connection, 
we simply allude to the production of swill for the 
use of cattle, and the evils inflicted on the commu- 
nity thereby. Thousands of barrels of this horrible 
stuff are consumed weekly by the miserable-looking 
and diseased animals confined in the stables to which 
we have referred. This, of course, is a source of 
considerable revenue to the owner of the distillery, 
whose interest it is to support the sale of the swill 
milk, and to discountenance that of the pure article 
from the country. He makes thousands of dollars 
yearly by this branch of his business alone. Tlie 
price paid for the board of each cow is six cents per 
day, or about twenty dollars a-year, and, estimating 
the number of cows kept in the Sixteenth Street 
stables at two thousand, the yearly income will be 
found to amount to forty thousand dollars. This is 



42 The Milk Trade. 

an immense sum of money, and it would require 
more than ordinary strength of principle to resign a 
business so lucrative, from motives of public philan- 
thropy. 

The sale of swill, as we have stated^ is not confined 
to the stable in the immediate vicinity of the distil- 
lery, but extends even to a distance of three or four 
miles from the city. Some of our readers, doubt- 
less, have seen the veh-icles in which it is carried — 
heavy lumbering carts, with one or two barrels, be- 
smeared with swill and dirt, and emitting a most 
offensive odor. Tliey are drawn each by one old, 
broken-down, spavined horse, and occasionally by a 
team of oxen. Crowds of these carts during "swill 
days" may be seen around the distilleries, waiting 
their turn, and so large is the quantity sold in this 
way tliat a whole day is often consumed in its distri- 
bution. Tlie price per barrel is about a shilling, and 
many thousand barrels are disposed of weekly for 
the use of cows and pigs. 

As the only object of the men who keep these 
cows is, to turn them to the most profitable account, 
the expense is curtailed in every possible way. 
They are allowed no straw for bedding, but a very 



A Modern Augean Stable. 43 

small quantity of dry feed, consisting of hay and 
grain, is given tliem, and the floor on which the}^ arc 
compelled to lie, is generally covered with ordui*e. 
As comparatively little is known of the internal 
arrangements and general management of these 
establishments, we will give a description of the one 
to which we have referred as the largest in the city. 
This stable is situated at the foot of Sixteenth Street, 
between the Tenth Avenue and the I^orth River. 
The buildings and ground are owned by Mr. John- 
son, the proprietor of the distillery adjoining, from 
which the cattle are supplied with the swill or slop. 
There are, properly speaking, three stables running 
parallel with each other, from the avenue to the 
river. They were all originally constructed of 
wood, but it was thought prudent, in consequence 
of a fire which broke out in one of them about four 
years ago, and which destroyed a considerable 
amount of property, to rebuild some of them with 
brick. Their length is from five hundred to seven 
hundred feet, and each one is made to contain be- 
tween six and seven hundred cows. Tlieir ai3pear- 
ance outside is any thing but* inviting, and the 
stench can sometimes be perceived at a distance of 



44 The Milk Tkade. 

a mile ; but the exterior, disgusting as it is, conveys 
no adequate conception of the interior. 

The cows are ranged in consecutive rows, of four- 
teen or fifteen to a row, and are separated by wood- 
en partitions which do not extend further than the 
animals' shoulders. At the head of each row is the 
trough which contains the swill, and to one of the 
boards which forms the frame-work immediately 
above this, the cow^s are secured by a rope fastened 
round their necks. The unfortunate animals are so 
placed as to be almost constantly over this trough, 
except when lying down ; and even that position, 
instead of affording them rest, only subjects them 
to a new torture, for the ground-floor of these stables 
is saturated usually with animal filth. It is almost 
needless to state that stables kept in this condition 
can not be wholesome, and that the atmosphere 
which j)ei'vades them would, of itself, be sufiicient 
to taint the milk, and render it unfit for use. The 
ceiling is from seven to eight feet high, and gener- 
ally at one end of the stalls is a small room where 
the cans, and other utensils required in the business, 
are kept. 

This room serves also the purposes of an office. 



Swill Diet — Its Effects. 45 



and altliongli it is something cleaner than the ad- 
joining stalls, it is not free from the stench. As 
ground rent in this locality is very high, the econo- 
my of space is a great desideratum. Thus the same 
building in which the cows are kept is also used as 
a stable for the horses employed on the milk routes. 
They are, however, more carefully tended, get better 
food, and their stables are kept cleaner. The cows 
are occasionally fed with hay and grain, but the 
latter is always mixed with the slops in their trough, 
and the former is most sparingly distributed. When 
the swill is first served it is often scalding hot, and 
a new cow requires some days before it can drink it 
in that condition. It instinctively shrinks from the 
trough when the disgusting liquid is poured in, but 
in the course of a week or two it becomes accustom- 
ed to it, and, finally, drinks it with an evident relish. 
The appearance of the animal after a few weeks' 
feeding upon this stuff is most disgusting; the 
month and nostrils are all besmeared, the eyes as- 
sume a leaden expression, indicative of that stupid- 
ity which is generally the consequence of intemper- 
ance. Tlie swill is a strong stimulant, and its effect 
upon the constitution and health of the animal, is 



46 The Milk Tk AD E, 



sometliing similar to alcoholic drinks upon the 
human system. Of this swill, each cow drinks 
about twenty-five or thirty gallons per day, so that 
the total consumption in the stables is about fifty or 
sixty thousand gallons. The quantity of milk given 
upon this food, varies from five to twenty-five quarts 
daily, that is, in every twenty-four hours. 

The cows are milked twice, once at three o'clock 
in the morning, and once at two or three in the 
afternoon. 

The operation of milking in these stables is as 
peculiar as it is disgusting. At the appointed time, 
the man who is specially engaged for this 23urpose 
enters the stable with a pail or can, and, raising the 
cow from the filth in which she has been lying, and 
with which she is covered, commences the milking 
process. About eight or ten minutes are generally 
required to milk a cow, but the time is of course 
always regulated by the quantity given. An expert 
hand at the work will milk a dozen cows in an hour 
and a half, and we are told of one man who per- 
formed the task in a still shorter time. There is no 
article of food which requires more cleanliness in 
its manipulation than milk. The vessels in which 



The Milking Process. 47 



it is contained require constant cleansing ; but the 
men engaged in the swill milk business scorn all 
such nicety, for with them cleanliness appears to be 
an exploded idea. Tlieir hands are seldom or never 
washed before milking, and indeed if they were 
they would soon be soiled by the cow's udder. In 
the process it occasionally happens that a lump of 
dirt falls into the liquid, when the hand of the 
milker most unceremoniously follows it and brings 
it out. The udders of some cows have been known 
to be afflicted with ulcers, yet even in that condition 
they were milked, and the milk mixed with the 
general stock for distribution. These details, dis- 
gusting as they are, fall far short of the reality. 

The treatment to which the poor animals are 
subjected is so severe that they often sink under it. 
When they become diseased, as not unfrequently 
happens, they are milked up to within one or two 
days of their death; and when no longer able to 
stand, they are held up until the process is per- 
formed. A friend who was an eye-witness to a case 
of this kind, informed us that when every means 
had been tried to make the cow stand, and when 
kicks and blows proved ineffectual for the purpose. 



48 The Milk Trade. 

two men sustained while the third milked her. 
When their support was removed, she fell to the 
ground, where she lay till death put a period to her 
suffering. The milk thus obtained must be infected 
with the disease of the animal, and, of course, is 
most deleterious to health. Its fatal effect upon 
children may be seen in the terrible mortality 
among the infant population of the city, who subsist 
almost exclusively upon milk. 



Profit of the Swill Milk business — Great Mortality and Disease among Cows fed 
on Swill — The Drivers of Milk Carts, the Stable Keepers and the " Small Deal- 
ers" — Process of Adulteration. 

The quantity of milk furnislied daily by the cows 
ill Johnson's stables is about twenty-four thousand 
quarts, but it is increased to thirty thousand by the 
addition of six thousand quarts of water. The 
profits accruing from this are very large. Estima- 
ting this milk at five cents per quart, the price at 
which it is sold, its total value will be found to 
amount to $1,500. This may exceed the real re- 
ceipts by one or two hundred dollars, for it is im- 
possible to arrive at an accurate estimate without 
an inspection of the account books. Allowing 
twelve quarts of milk as the daily average yield of 
each cow for nine months, we find that the receipts 
ft'om the sale of the milk of a single animal amount 
to about $160 in that period. About $4:0 more is 
made by the water with which it is diluted, and 



50 The Milk Tkade. 

wliicli is generally added in the proportion of one 
fourth. 

This increases the amount to about $200, from 
which a large profit is obtained after the deduction 
of all the expenses. These expenses are compara- 
tively trifling upon a milk dealer who has as many 
as eighty or a hundred cows, very few having less 
than twenty. The loss by the death of cattle is some- 
times very heavy, as many as eight or ten dying in 
one week. On a recent visit to Johnson's stables 
the writer saw two lying dead outside of the stables, 
exposed to the view of the public, and not far from 
these were two others which had been turned out 
to die. One had fallen over on its side and was in 
the last agonies of death, and the other was making 
vain attempts to stand up. Such scenes are very 
frequent at this establishment, and may be witness- 
ed iihnost daily. The stable-men are hardened by 
association with them, and regard them as the 
natural concomitants of their business. Of those 
that are diseased, more than one half are disposed 
of to butchers, who can purchase them in this con- 
dition at two or three cents a pound less than they 
pay for healthy meat. If they run dry before be- 



Diseased Cattle. 51 

coming diseased, tliey are fattened (bloated) with a 
kind of food termed ship-stuff, which consists of 
mill dust and the worst kind of grain, and sold to 
such butchers as will buy them. 

A large amount of this kind of meat is used by 
the poorer classes, who never suspect the reason 
they obtain it cheaper than it is sold elsewhere. 
The law has made it a misdemeanor to sell diseased 
beef, and about a year ago several persons were ar- 
rested for its violation, but at present, although the 
practice is continued, we seldom bear of any arrests 
being made. It is not very dijfficult to detect this 
meat ; it has a peculiarly bluish appearance, and 
becomes putrid in a much shorter time than good 
beef. It also takes more of it to weigh a pound, 
and when cooked there is less of it. 

The cattle that are fed in Johnson's stables, and 
in fact in all that we have ever visited, are seldom 
or never allowed to leave them. They are con- 
stantly breathing the fetid atmosphere of their 
prisons, their teeth rot out of their jaws, their hoofs 
grow to an unnatural length, and turn up something 
similar to the point of a skate. These are the marks 
by which a slop-fed cow is generally known, and it 



62 The Milk Tkade. 



is impossible to mistake them. Sometimes the hair 
falls off, ulcers break out in various parts of the 
body, and the hoofs become so sore as to render the 
animal quite lame and unable to stand. It is mel- 
ancholy to see some of the poor creatures, when 
they are so fortunate as to get out of their pens for 
an hour or two, attemj)ting to walk. 

After all the losses sustained by the swill milk- 
men are considered, it will be seen that their profits, 
as we have stated, are very large, and such as are 
able to keep one or two hundred cows acquire a 
fortune in a few years. We have conversed with 
some who were once engaged in the business, and 
who were very willing to admit, now that they had 
no further interest in it, that the milk was most un- 
healthy. The total daily receipts from the milk of 
one hundred cows, including the water mixed with 
it, is about seventy dollars, from which we must 
deduct thirty dollars for the expenses attending 
upon the business. Of this sum, about twenty 
dollars are paid for the rent and feeding of the 
cattle, for the proprietors have to buy their own 
grain and hay ; the other ten dollars are required 
for the salaries of the hands employed in the stables, 



Drivers of Milk Carts. 53 

and for incidental expenses. From this it will bo 
seen that labor in this business is very poorly re- 
munerated, and it is next to impossible for the driver 
of a milk cart to support a family by his earnings. 
The wages they receive never exceed twelve dollars 
a month, and are sometimes as low as eight, but the 
usual amount is ten. We should add, however, 
that they are, as a general thing, boarded by their 
employer, which makes their salary equivalent to 
five or six dollars a week. The work they have to 
perform for this pittance is very laborious ; they are 
required to be in readiness at three and four o'clock 
in the morning, to serve the milk among their cus- 
tomers, who are generally distributed over every 
part of the city. Tlius they have sometimes to go 
over a distance of ten miles in serving one route, 
which they accomplish generally in three or four 
hours. In the afternoon they set out about two 
o'clock, and generally commence serving their milk 
at the most distant part of the route. 

The drivers have nothing to do with the care of 
the cattle, which belongs to an entirely different 
class of men. Tlieir only business is to attend to 
the milk routes, and take charge of their horses 



54 The Milk Trade. 

and wagons. One man will serve as much as one 
Imndred and fifty quarts in a morning, but the 
average quantity is about one hundred. 

The most unpleasant and laborious part of the 
work falls to the share of the stable-keeper, whose 
business it is to feed the cows and take charge of 
the stables. This is an arduous task, indeed, and 
would tax the utmost powers of Hercules himself. 
If the cows kept in the Augean stables were fed on 
swill, the son of Jove, we suspect, would have had 
more difficulty in the accomplishment of one of his 
great labors. The stables of Johnson may well be 
considered their rivals, but we are not so fortunate 
as the ancients in possessing a Hercules to rid us 
of the nuisance. 

From early morning till a late hour in the even- 
ing, the stable-man of Johnson is engaged at his 
never-ending task. The horrible and poisonous 
atmosphere that he is constantly inhaling, and the 
disgusting drudgery that he has to perform, render 
him truly an object of commiseration. His labor 
is also poorly requited, his weekly salary not ex- 
ceeding eight dollars. There are very few who can 
obtain any other employment which will pay them 



Stable Men — "Small Dealers." 55 



even one or two dollars a week less, that will re- 
main at this kind of work. They never have any 
rest from year's end to year's end, for "Sunday 
shines no Sabbath day to them," and customers 
must be attended to on that day as punctually as 
on any other day of the week. 

A considerable quantity of the milk manufactured 
in these stables has to undergo another process be- 
fore it is distributed. There are a large class en- 
gaged in the business, called the " small dealers," 
who purchase from fifty to two hundred quarts 
daily, from the owners of the cows. Some of these 
men own wagons, and some retail their milk in the 
stores. These stores are curiosities in their way, 
and demand a brief notice. 

A great many can be seen at any time in the 
neighborhood of Johnson's stables. Some of them 
exhibit a sign, which informs the gullible public 
that the best pure country milk, from Orange 
county or Westchester, or Orange and Westchester, 
whichever you please, is sold inside. The business 
of the establishment is also indicated by a plaster 
of Paris cow, which is displayed in the window, 
with one or more geraniums — but what these plants 



56 The Milk Trade. 

have to do with dairies or cows we have never been 
able to discover. Upon entering, you will see 
three or four large cans, which contain the ^uTe 
country railk^ and which is sold for four cents a 
quart in the summer, and five cents in the winter. 
IS^ow this stuff, as it comes from the swill stables, is 
bad enough, but in this laboratory it undergoes a 
transformation which renders it still worse. 

" I would as soon," said a person speaking to us 
about the adulteration of milk, "think of giving 
poison to my family. It is not fit for swine." 

We agreed with him, and so will our readers, 
when they hear the tale that was told to us. To 
every quart of milk about a pint of water is added, 
and then a due allowance of chalk, or plaster of 
Paris, which takes away the bluish appearance 
given to it by the water. Magnesia generally 
forms a component part, and flour, starch, and oc- 
casionally an ^g^^^ is mixed up with it to give it con- 
sistence. After all these ingredients are employed 
a certain quantity of molasses is added, to produce 
that rich yellow color which good milk generally 
possesses. 

Several thousand quarts of this kind of milk are 



Adulteration of Milk. 57 



sold daily throughout the city, in utter disregard of 
all law. It is, however, a most difficult matter to 
detect the manufacturers in the act of making it, 
for only the initiated are allowed to be present 
when the mysterious work is going on. But there 
is no difficulty in detecting the quality of the milk 
itself. By allowing it to lie over until it is decom- 
posed, the chalk, magnesia, molasses, and all can 
be discovered. If any eggs have been used in its 
manufacture, a yellowish slime will be found float- 
ing upon the top ; but it is very seldom that a 
milkman is found guilty of this extravagance. The 
liquid is all water, of a bluish white appearance, 
and in the solid mass which lies at the bottom the 
chalk and magnesia may be easily perceived. 

3^ 



CliEiitn fin. 

Cow Stables of London — The City Inspector and the Swill Nuisance — ^Diary of a 
Cow Stable — The Fortieth Street Establishment. 

It is impossible to state accurately to what ex- 
tent the adulteration of milk is carried on in this 
city, but there is every reason to apprehend that 
the practice is very prevalent among a large pro- 
j)ortion of the small milk dealers. By the aid of 
the " cow with the iron tail," two quarts can be 
increased to three, and the profits nearly doubled, 
after deducting the price of chalk, magnesia, and 
other compounds. Fortunes have been made and 
still continue to be made at the business. Out of 
every hundred who sell milk there are, perhaps, 
very few who do not dilute it with water, while 
about one half adulterate it with the ingredients we 
have named. We should state, however, that the 
practice is not confined exclusively to our milkmen, 



London Stables and Milk. 59 



but is common in all large cities in this country 
and in Europe. London has become notorious for 
it, and, in proportion to its extent, is supplied with 
more adulterated and swill milk than ISTew York. 
Immense subterranean stables are to be found there, 
containing thousands of cows, fed almost entirely 
upon swill slops, and decayed vegetable matter, 
gathered in the large markets and streets of that 
city. From the time they enter these stables till 
they leave them, they never see the light of day. 
They are dimly lighted with gas, and there is little 
or no ventilation, so that the mortality among the 
cattle is much greater than in. any of our establish- 
ments. The injurious effect of this milk upon the 
health of the community was conclusively shown 
by a Mr. Ruggs, and several eminent physicians of 
that city, and we understand that a considerable 
reform was accom]3lished by their instrumentality. 
We have no doubt that the physicians of New 
York could render most effective service toward 
the suppression of the traffic here, if they would 
co-operate for that purpose. The public only re- 
quire to be fuU}^ informed of the evils resulting 
from the use of the impure milk, to discountenance 



60 The Milk Trade. 



the sale of it. Who would believe, if not informed 
of the fact, that two thirds of the milk consumed in 
the city is the produce of these stables, and that of 
the twelve or thirteen thousand cows fed on swill, 
over two thousand die annually from diseases pro- 
duced by their peculiar diet and cruel treatment ? 
There is no nuisance with which we are afflicted 
that is more injurious, and there is none which is 
tolerated with more coolness. The authorities of 
the city are perfectly aware of its existence, and 
should adopt the most effective means for its speedy 
removal. 

The City Inspector has been frequently informed 
by his "Wardens of dead cattle which have been 
found lying outside of the stables in Sixteenth and 
Fortieth streets, and while he has given orders for 
their removal, the real nuisance itself has been 
passed over with singular forgetfulness. Hundreds 
of children die annually of diseases which physi- 
cians say are caused by swill milk, yet in his last 
yearly report, the City Inspector, speaking of the 
various causes of mortality among them, never 
once alludes to the most prominent. The very at- 
mosphere around them is detrimental to health, and 



Diary of a Oow Stable. 61 

— ^ — - — — — — -■■■, ■■■- . ■- — ■■ — ,,■■, J 

most offensive to those living in their vicinity. A 
gentleman, who lived within a stone's throw of the 
Sixteenth Street stables, says that they were a 
source of perpetual annoyance to him, and that he 
was finally forced to leave the immediate neighbor- 
hood on account of them. So offensive was the 
odor that it sometimes produced nausea, and the 
inmates were often awakened at night by it. The 
following extracts from the diary of the gentleman 
referred to, will give some idea of the character of 
this nuisance : 

•' The cow stables were horrible to-day — the odor penetrated the 
house, and became diflfused through all the rooms, although the 
windows and doors were closely shut," 

" The stables on hand again to-day, with a slight intermission." 
*' Wind northerly, and stables both odorous and odious." 
*' The stables give indications of a change of wind, from north- 
east to north." 

" An occasional puff to-day from the great perfumery." 
*' The old nuisance insufferably bad for several hours this even- 
ing, especially at tea-time, when the odor was most impartially 
diffused through every part of the house, in spite of closed doors 
and windows." 

" Moved out of the neighborhood, and finally got rid of the nui- 
sance. My family physician advised me to leave the place on 
account of it." 



62 The Milk Trade. 

We might fill a dozen pages with extracts like 
the foregoing, but these will suffice. It would be 
unfair, however, to give our readers the impression 
that these stables are the only nuisance of the kind 
in New York, for there is another in Fortieth Street, 
which may justly be considered their rival. It 
does not contain more than one hundred cows ; but 
these are kept in a worse condition than the animals 
in Johnson's stables. The building is constructed 
of wood, and is immediately contiguous to the dis- 
tillery, from which the swill is obtained through 
iron and wooden conduits. The average weekly 
quantity of milk and water supplied by this estab- 
lishment is about ten thousand quarts. The stable 
is surrounded with manure, which in some places 
is knee-deep, and the smell arising from this, com- 
bined with the swill, is sickening. It is, however, 
so far removed up-town that it has hitherto attract- 
ed little attention, but the poor people living in the 
vicinity are constantly complaining of the insuffer- 
able smell that proceeds from it, Tlie cows present 
the same appearance that we have observed in 
those kept in the concern in Sixteenth Street, and 
the disease and mortality among them is as great 



Consumption among Cows. 63 

in proportion to tlieir number. It is easy to distin- 
guish those that have been long in the stables from 
the new-comers. The latter have generally a fresh 
and healthy look, while the former are wretched, 
emaciated, dejected, spiritless-looking creatures. 
Some of them are so thin that the bones appear as 
if ready to protrude through the skin. This is gen- 
erally the case with such as die of consumption, 
a disease quite prevalent among cattle fed on 
grain and swill. When attacked with consumption, 
they decline very rapidly, and some die after a con- 
finement of three or four months. These animals 
it is impossible to fatten, and they are therefore 
milked as long as they will yield a quart. It mat- 
ters not what the quality ot the liquid may be, the 
milkman can not afford to lose any of his pi-ofits, 
and it is consequently sold with the rest of the 
milk. 

The economy with which tlie business of these 
establishments is conducted, is one of their most 
remarkable features. Not more than one half the 
hands necessary for the management of the business 
is employed. One stable-man is made to do the 
work of two ; the horses engaged on the milk routes 



64 The Milk Trade. 

are generally emaciated and broken-down hacks, 
whicli have become useless for any other purpose, 
and as we have already stated, the cows are so 
closely packed together that they have not sufficient 
room to stretch themselves without partly lying on 
each other. The milk cans, which contain from ten 
to fifteen gallons, are never thoroughly clean, for 
scouring is a thing almost entirely unknown to swill 
milkmen. 

How different from the scrupulous cleanliness and 
neatness with which every thing in and about the 
country dairies is managed. Tlie cans, and all the 
vessels in which the milk is kept, are scalded and 
scoured daily, and the dairy itself is generally situ- 
ated on the coolest part of the farm. One of the pe- 
culiar characteristics of swill milk is, that it is next 
to impossible to make butter or cheese from it, which 
is perhaps the strongest evidence that could be pro- 
duced to prove its deficiency in the nutritious prop- 
erties possessed by the pure article. 



The Swill Milk Business in Williamsburg, Wallabout, and Brooklyn-Milk Trans- 
ported from those Places to New York-The Milk Carrier-Manufacture of 
Buttermilk— The Jersey City MDk Business, 

Those who are in the habit of crossing the Grand 
Street ferry at Williamsburgh, must have perceived 
at times, when the wind was from a certain quarter, 
a most unpleasant odor. This proceeds from some 
large cow stables situated on First Street, from 
which they extend several hundred feet, to the very 
margin of the river. On the opposite side is the 
extensive distillery of Crane, Coggswell & Co., to 
which they are a most profitable adjunct. These 
stables are capable of containing five hundred 
cows, but are made to hold fifteen or sixteen hun- 
dred. They are conducted on the same rigid prin- 
ciples of economy, and with the same heartlessness 
that we have noticed in establishments of the kind 
in this city. There are four buildings altogether, 



66 The Milk Trade. 



all of wliicli are constructed of brick, and on the 
outside are a number of tanks in wliicli tlie slop is 
received from the distillery, and from which it is 
distributed into the troughs for the use of the cattle. 

At the extreme end, near the river, are large ma- 
nure heaps, which are a source of considerable profit 
to the proprieters, and of great annoyance to the res- 
idents in its vicinity. In these stables from fifteen 
to twenty cows die every week, from diseases inci- 
dent to their diet and peculiar treatment. These 
are disposed of at about three dollars a head, to a 
certain class of men, who skin them, and convert 
their fat and bones to some useful purpose. Tlie 
fat obtained from them is of a very inferior quality, 
and is very limited in quantity. Their skin is the 
most valuable part, and it is principally for it that 
the bodies are bought. 

These stables are rented to the owners of the 
cows, of whom there are from twenty to thirty, and 
they are supplied with swill upon terms somewhat 
similar to those who rent stalls in Johnson's stables. 
The weekly quantity of milk obtained from the 
cows kept here is one hundred and thirty thousand 
quarts. These stables do not consume more than 



WiLLIAMSBUKGH CoW StABLES. 67 

one half the swill manufactured, in tlie distillery, 
which supplies about twenty smaller establishments 
in different parts of the city, Bushwick, and other 
places in the vicinity. Williamsburg abounds with 
small milk dealers, many of whom pursue the same 
system of adulteration that prevails among that 
class in this city. The mortality among the cattle 
fed in stables, in each of which from fifty to one 
hundred cows are kept, is not so great as in those 
adjoining the distilleries, and their milk is generally 
of a superior quality. The reason of this is, that 
they receive less swill and more solid diet, the swill 
being used mainly as a stimulant. They are not so 
closely packed together, and if the owner possesses 
any vacant lots, they are frequently allowed to 
enjoy any herbage which may offer. Still the milk 
obtained from such cows is injurious in proportion 
to the quantity of swill consumed by them. 

The stables to which we have referred enjoy a 
most extensive patronage, both in "Willi amsburgh 
and this city, where they have competed for a long 
time most successfully with the pure country milk. 
Williamsburgh is, in fact, their great stronghold, 
and although a village in comparison to 'New 



68 The Milk Tkade. 

York, it produces a much larger quantity. We 
have been informed by some of the men at present 
engaged in the business, that there can not be less 
than four thousand cows in the city proper, and 
about two thousand in its suburbs, making a total 
of six thousand, which yield near seventy-two thou- 
sand quarts daily. Within the past two or three 
years, several pure country milk dairies have been 
established there with considerable success, but 
still we think the supply does not keep pace with 
the rapid increase of the population. 

Wallabout, which lies to the south of .Williams- 
burgh, and which may be considered part of its en- 
virons, has another swill manufactory, though of 
less extensive dimensions than that just noticed. 
The distillery is owned by Towers & Co., and the 
ground by a Mr. Scores. The appearance of this 
establishment at a distance is very picturesque, but, 
like many other things in this world, it loses its 
charms on a closer inspection. In front of it is an 
old house, constructed, doubtless, some hundred 
years ago. It is built in style somewhat similar to 
the few old Dutch buildings which are still to be 
found about 'New York. The distillery and stables 



Brooklyn Milk. 69 

are approached by a short path leading from the 
main road. In the latter, which are in a most 
ruinous condition, between three and four hundred 
cows are confined. 

The number of cows in Brooklyn is estimated at 
two thousand, of which about one thousand or more 
are kept in the stables attached to the distilleries of 
Woods, Underhill & Wilson, in Skillman Street. 
But a very small proportion of the milk of these 
cows is sent to 'New York, the supply being scarcely 
sufficient for home consumption. About three 
thousand quarts 6f country milk is transported over 
the Jamaica and Long Island Eailroad daily, and 
this, with four thousand quarts obtained from 
Orange county and other sources, is the only pure 
milk received in Brooklyn. 

About five thousand quarts of the Brooklyn swill 
milk is sent to this city daily by the ferry-boats. A 
portion of this is distributed on routes to regular 
customers, and the remainder to the small dealers. 
Tliese dealers generally make from a cent to two 
cents a quart, according to the extent to which 
they adulterate their milk. Their customers pur- 
chase it in the stores, while others receive it from 



70 The Milk Tkade. 

the carriers at their doors. Tlie carrier must not be 
confounded with the driver, from whom he differs 
in many respects. He is a much older institution, 
and is of course entitled to a brief consideration. 

About thirty or forty years ago, when Canal Street 
was regarded as the highest limits of the upper part 
of the city, the principal part of the milk business 
was transacted by carriers, so that drivers may be 
considered a modern improvement. They always 
carried two cans, suspended by ropes from a yoke, 
which was made to fit the shoulders. These yokes 
are still extensively used in certain sections of J^ew 
York, and are common in the country, where there 
are very few farms without one or more of them. 
The carriers are to be found principally on the east 
side of the city, and commonly in the poorest locali- 
ties, where as many as eight and ten families reside 
in one house. The milk they furnish is generally 
of the worst description, and is sold at four and five 
cents a quart. There are hundreds of men, we have 
been informed, who earn a subsistence at this em- 
ployment, and some of the most extensive milk 
establishments in ISTew York were commenced in 
this way. We know of a large one in the Eighth 



The Cakrie r — B u t t e r m i l^ . 71 

Avenue, near Seventeenth Street, whose owner in- 
formed us, that his first beginning was in a similar 
way, and that his sales were limited to thirty quarts 
daily. That was about ^ve or six years ago, but so 
rapidly has his business increased, that he now em- 
ploys five carts, and sells ten thousand five hundred 
quarts every week. He, however, is only one of a 
large class, who commenced in the trade with means 
as limited. His milk, however, is sent pure from 
Westchester county, by the Harlem Railroad, and he 
says that in the large number of families which he 
supplies, not a single death has occurred among 
the children. 

During the summer, the supply of milk from the 
country reaches its maximum, as may be seen by re- 
ference to the tables published in the first and second 
chapters, showing the quantity transported over the 
Erie, Harlem, and other railroads. It occasionally 
happens that four or five thousand quarts, and some- 
times a larger quantity, remain unsold for two or 
three days, when it becomes so sour that it can not 
be disposed of as new milk. It is then churned, 
and sold in the form of buttermilk, for which there 
is generally a great demand in the warm weather. 



72 The Milk Trade. 

The profits from its sale are about equal to those 
arising from the sale of new milk. In winter, on 
account of the decreased supply, there is no surplus, 
and consequently no buttermilk is made ; for this 
branch of the business is so fluctuating, that, as a 
general thing, very few milkmen like to devote 
their time and capital to it.* 



* About twenty years ago there was an old colored man, who 
made a pretty comfortable living in this city by the sale of but- 
termilk. His name has not descended to us, but he was univer- 
sally known as " the buttermilk man." His stock in trade con- 
sisted of a hand-cart, and the barrel containing the milk. He was 
one of the most popular characters of his day, and was as well 
known as the " lime-kiln man," and other strange notabilities of 
the present time. When going his rounds his cry of " but-ter-mil- 
lik" was the only notification he gave his customers of his presence, 
and it never failed to draw them out of doors. On one occasion, the 
chronicle says, he got so far a-head of his times as to use a bell, but 
finding that his patrons would not recognize the signal, he was com- 
pelled to relapse into the old style, which, after all, he found to be 
more suited to him. Cotemporary with this character was the 
" salt man," another popular individual. He was a degree above 
the other, however, for he could afford the services of a horse. His 
cry was ''fresh salt, and if you don't find it fresh you can have it 
for nothing." It is almost needless to state he never lost any thing 
by this magnanimity. 



Jersey Milk. 73 

The milk trade in Jersey is very extensive, but 
with the exception of about a thousand quarts of 
the pure country article, the supply is furnished by 
swill stables, of which there are a large number in 
that city. Tlie slop-fed cows kept in and about 
Jersey, exceed one thousand, and yet strange to 
say, there is no distillery on that side of the river. 
A considerable supply of grain is obtained from a 
brewery in Grove Street, and on this and the swill 
procured from ]^ew York, the cattle are fed. The 
swill is generally brought over the Hoboken ferry 
to Bergen, and thence conveyed to the various 
stables in Jersey. A small quantity is transported 
over the city ferry, but the milkmen are so much 
afraid of detection that they prefer having it brought 
by the Hoboken boats. They are obliged to be 
more vigilant and wary, for in so small a city their 
iniquities are more liable to be discovered and 
exposed. The same system of deception that we 
have noticed in Kew York also prevails there. 
False signs are painted on the carts, such as " dry 
feed milk," ^' grass feed milk," and occasionally you 
will see ''Orange county milk," inscribed upon 
them in conspicuous letters. Of the Orange county 

4 



74 The Milk Trade. 

milk it is only very recently that any was sold in 
Jersey, and at present the quantity does not exceed 
four or five hundred quarts, the greater part of 
which is supplied by the Orange county milk 
association, on the corner of Jay and Washington 
streets, in New York. 

Besides the distilleries which we have named, 
there are some others to which there are no cow 
stables attached, but which nevertheless sell swill 
for the use of cattle. There are also a considerable 
number of breweries and other establishments from 
which an abundant supply of grain is procured. 
Like swill, grain is also destitute of many nutritious 
properties, and is therefore regarded as very little 
better. Cattle fed upon it are generally healthier 
and in finer condition, but the milk has a bitter 
taste, and is considered unhealthy, particularly for 
children. 



The Milk and Dairies of Orange County— The Quality of Milk Affected by the 
Diet of Cattle— Bovine Instinct and Antipathies — Process of Cooling Milk. 

The butter and milk of Orange county have long 
and justly been celebrated as the best in the State 
of 'New York, although of late years, Westchester 
has been considered its rival in the production of 
these essential elements of food. Of the pure milk 
consumed in the city, a little more than one third is 
received from the former county ; and such is its 
great abundance, that if the facilities of railroad 
transportation were increased, it could supply us 
with all we should require during both summer and 
winter. The most distant milk depot is Otisville, 
about eighty miles from Jersey City, whence the 
article is conveyed by railroad and boats to ISTew 
York. There are a large number of depots along the 
road from this station, to which the cans are-brought 



76 The Milk Trade. 

every morning and evening about one half the year, 
and once a day during the other six months. 

The dairymen and dealers do not generally live 
farther than three or four miles from either side 
of the road, and their number is about three 
hundred. Tliis, however, is a very small propor- 
tion of the dairymen in the county, whose distance 
from the road excludes them from any participation 
in the benefits of the trade, and who are conse- 
quently compelled to convert their milk into butter, 
which is its least profitable form. From eight to 
ten quarts of milk, it is said by those acquainted 
with the business, will make a pound of butter; 
but where it is particularly rich in cream, seven 
quarts have been found sufiicient. The price paid 
to the farmers by the city milk dealers is eight 
cents a gallon, the latter having to pay the freight, 
whichus two cents. Of such importance has the 
milk trade now become, that special trains have 
been employed in transporting the milk from the 
various stations. Should the Erie Hailroad Com- 
pany run one or two branch roads, as it is said 
they contemplate doing, as far as fifty or sixty 
miles in a direct line from the present track, the 



Butter and Milk. 77 



supply of milk now received might be quad- 
rupled. 

The dairymen look to the ultimate consummation 
of this work with great interest and not a little 
anxiety, for it would increase their profits consid- 
erably. The manufacture of butter requires a large 
expenditure of time and labor, and is attended with 
occasional loss, which renders it any thing but a re- 
munerative occupation to dairymen, when com- 
pared with the production of milk. Tliey will, 
therefore, welcome the increase of railroads, as one 
of the most effectual means of relieving them from 
an unpleasant, because compulsory and compara- 
tively unprofitable employment. We do not mean 
to say that any kind of farming would be more 
profitable, for doubtless it is much more lucrative 
than the raising of crops, but the manufacture of 
butter is so much less profitable than the sale of 
milk, that they would gladly embrace the first 
favorable opportunity of abandoning it. The rais- 
ing of cattle, and the production of milk and butter, 
are the principal occuj)ations of the land proprietors 
of Orange county ; the word " farmer," therefore, 
strictly speaking, can not be applied to them, for 



7S The Milk Tkade. 

their land, with the exception of a very small tract 
on each farm for the cultivation of kitchen vegeta- 
bles, is laid out in pasturage. 

And for this it is peculiarly adapted, both low- 
lands and uplands affording a plentiful supply of 
grass, except in the winter season, when the cattle 
are fed upon hay and various kinds of dry feed. 
Considerable experience is requisite in the use of 
fodder, as it affects the quality of the milk. A few 
onions, eaten by a cow, will so injure it as to ren- 
der it unfit for use, and we were told of a case in 
which the yield of a large number of cows was 
totally lost from their having eaten of this vegeta- 
ble. Turnips will also injuriously affect it, im- 
parting a strong and unpleasant flavor. To coun- 
teract the effects of such food, where it has been 
used, various drugs are employed in making the 
butter. Where it is not well preserved, through 
the carelessness of those engaged in making it, or 
from other causes, it very soon becomes tainted. 

A good judge of milk can tell from its taste, not 
only upon what kind of vegetable the cow from 
which it was obtained has been fed, but even the 
particular kind of grass. Such nice distinctions, 



Pasturb. Land. 79 

however, can only be made by very keen observers, 
and by those who have made it their particular 
study. 

The thick growth of grass found in the lowlands 
makes the richest kind of milk, while the milk 
yielded by cattle fed on rising ground is thin and 
contains less cream. The lowlands are therefore 
more valuable for pasturage, and generally com- 
mand a higher price in the market. It must not, 
however, be very marshy, for such land is as un- 
favorable for the grazing of cattle as it is for the 
general purposes of farming. It has been noticed 
that after a shower, when the grass is moist, and is 
eaten in that state, the yield of milk is most abun- 
dant, while, on the contrary, when the weather is 
particularly dry there is a very perceptible decrease 
in the quantity. 

In May and June the supply is greater than in 
any otlier month, but after that it diminishes till 
December or January, when it reaches its mini- 
mum. The great difference in this respect pro- 
duced by the change of season is very remarkable. 
The same cow w^iich in summer would give twenty 
quarts, in winter will not yield more than ten or 



80 The Milk Trade. 

twelve. This is owing to the change of food, and 
the difference in the temperature of the atmosphere. 
In fact, so far do the variations of temperature affect 
the quantity of milk, that the regular yield is often 
reduced two or three quarts by it. Those having 
charge of cattle, knowing these facts, are very cau- 
tious in their treatment of them, and when there 
are indications of a storm, always drive them under 
cover. Although a shower of rain produces an in- 
crease of milk when the grass is eaten immediately 
after, yet it will not do to leave the cattle under it, 
for exposure to it causes their udders to shrink, and 
a decrease in the supply instantly follows. A cow 
may be very easily " dried up" by exposing her to 
the inclemency of the weather, or by milking her 
at irregular intervals, and then by drawing from 
her only a portion of the natural yield. When 
such a course of treatment is pursued, the teats 
usually dry up one after another, but it very seldom 
happens that they all dry up simultaneously. 

There is, perhaps, nothing more interesting about 
a farm than the milking of cattle in the early dawn, 
or when the shades of evening are closing over the 
landscape. The animals know the time well, and 



Country Cows. 81 



go to the yard to be relieved of their burden with 
the utmost good grace imaginable. So different are 
they in appearance from the cattle fed in the swill 
stables that they look as if they belonged to a dif- 
ferent species. There is a look of contentment and 
repose in their eyes diflerent from the stupid 
drunken stare of the miserable creatures confined 
in the cow-pens of this city and Williamsburgh. 

"We have seen them stand in the farm-yard, 
apparently most grateful to the milker, and desirous 
to aid him in the performance of his task, so far as 
their limited knowledge and means permit. We 
have observed them when they have seen the 
milker approach with pail in hand, put themselves 
in the best attitude to facilitate the operation, re- 
moving one of their legs out of the way, and stand- 
ing as immovable as a rock until they are allowed 
to go at liberty. At such times they are invariably 
gentle and easily managed, but should they be 
alarmed by the appearance of any thing very un- 
usual, it requires all the exertions of the keepers to 
pacify them. While grazing in the field, they will 
not allow you to approach them unless you and 
they have been previously acquainted, but in the 

4* 



82 The Milk Trade. 

milking-yard they will tolerate even the familiarity 
of strangers. 

In a recent visit to some of the best grazing dis- 
tricts in Orange county, we saw several fine speci- 
mens of milch cows, handsome-looking animals, 
which it is a pleasm^e to look at. Those who have 
only seen city-fed cattle, can have but a very faint 
idea of the beauty of real genuine country cows, 
for they are really teautiful creatures, and possess 
a sprightly and intelligent look, no matter what 
may be said to the contrary. They are also very 
sensitive, and susceptible of impressions to a nice 
degree. Present a pail of swill to one of them, and 
she will turn from it with unmistakable disgust, for 
it is only when every instinct of the animal is 
blunted, and her taste has become depraved, that 
she will drink such poisonous stuif. 

Should they see any blood on the ground, which 
had been spilled there by accident or otherwise, they 
become perfectly frantic and uncontrollable. It is 
the same whether it has been observed by one or 
all ; the first that sees it gives a peculiar signal, 
which is known by the others, when they run here 
and there and everywhere, terribly infuriated, 



Instincts of Cattle. 83 

dashing and butting at every thing that may chance 
to impede their progress, and even leaping over 
fences four and five feet high. A scene of this kind 
occurred once on one of the most extensive dairies 
near Goshen. The owner had during the day 
killed one of his cattle in the milking-yard, and in 
the evening, when the herd returned to be milked, 
they perceived the blood. At first they went up to 
it with distended nostrils and glaring eyes, and 
sniffed at it ; then they tossed up their heads, and, 
bellowing furiously, rushed round the yard, finally 
bursting over the enclosures into the fields, where 
they gave full vent to their madness. 

It is said that it is only in cases where the blood 
has been shed by violence that cattle become so 
frantic at the sight of it ; but, whatever credit we 
may give them for sagacity, they certainly do not 
possess any such supernatural powers of perception 
as this would indicate. 

Their inhospitality to strange cows is one of the 
least prepossessing traits in their character. When 
one is introduced to the herd they generally present 
a hostile front, and should she resent this unfriendly 
reception, they attack her with ferocity, and force 



84 The Milk Trade. 

her to seek safety in flight. After the first day, 
however, they receive her into the commnnity as 
one of its members, and entitled to the full range 
of the pasturage. 

A great difference of opinion exists among dairy- 
men as to which of all the various breeds of cattle 
furnish the best milch cows. One will tell you 
that the Durhams are the greatest milkers, another 
that the Holland cows are superior, but as this is a 
matter which does not possess any interest for the 
general reader, we will merely remark, that in 
nearly every inquiry we made, we invariably found 
the Durham to be the best. When a cow's udder 
becomes so much distended as to pain the animal, 
she will present herself to be milked, and will not 
go away until relieved. 

Before the milk is sent to the railroad depot it 
has to undergo a cooling process. In the warm 
weather this is indispensably necessary, as it makes 
it keep longer. The cans containing the milk are 
placed in large reservoirs of cold spring water for 
half an hour or more, and are then placed upon 
the cars to be transported to 'New York. This is a 
very important matter in the proper management 



Dairy Management. 85 



of a daily, and tlie owners bestow a great deal of 
attention uj^on it. The dairymen must furnish 
their own cans, the wear and tear of w^hich some- 
what diminishes their profits. To prevent confu- 
sion, each has the name of its owner engraved 
upon it, so that it very seldom happens any are 
lost. The whole business is conducted with a 
punctuality and dispatch highly commendable, and 
when the supply of milk fails to arrive at its desti- 
nation, it is generally owing to some accident or 
delay upon the road, and seldom to neglect on the 
part of the dairymen. 



Profits of Country Dairymen— Great Increase in the Supply of Milk by the Erie 
Eailroad— The Stabling and Food of Cattle — ^A Word of Advice to Dairymen. 

Of the two Imndred farmers or dairymen wlio 
live along the line of the Erie Railroad, and 
who transport their milk to this city, but very 
few possess more than one hundred cows each, 
and a large proportion do not own more than 
twenty or thirty. The receipts obtained from the 
sale of milk, and the raising of cattle, form their 
only revenue — for their land is almost entirely nsed 
for pasturage. Farming is more troublesome, and 
less profitable, than the production of milk ; and it 
is, besides, attended with more risk. It is only, 
therefore, when the facility for its transportation or 
its manufacture into butter are wanting, that we find 
the land-owners devoting their attention to agricul- 
ture. Good grazing land can not be had now for less 
than from seventy to eighty dollars an acre, and in lo- 
calities where it is particularly fertile, it will bring 



Dairymen's Profits. 87 

as much as ninety dollars. A farm of one or two 
himclred acres of such land, capable of supporting 
from one hundred to one hundred and fifty cows, 
will realize to its proj)rietor about three thousand 
dollars in a year, clear of all expenses ; and this 
amount is made up by the profits arising from the 
sale of milk alone. 

Every year the stock is generally increased by 
an addition of one calf to every cow, so that every 
three years, which may be regarded as the length 
of a bovine generation, the capital is doubled. It 
is very seldom, however, that dairymen keep more 
than one fifth of the calves to increase their stock, 
except where the breed is very valuable. They 
generally feed them for two or three weeks, at the 
end of which time they are disposed of for two, 
three, and four dollars per head. 

For one or two days after calving, the milk of a 
cow is not fit to be sent to market, although it is 
not injurious to health. On tlie contrary, it is con- 
sidered by some to be very nutritive, and when 
prepared for use by boiling, is pleasant to the 
taste. Tlie first or second yield, we understand, 
liowever, is seldom or never used. It is always 



88 The Milk Trade. 

thicker than the milk sold in the city, and is of a 
rich yellow color, resembling cream. 

It is not more than ten years since the Erie Rail- 
road was opened through Orange county, and at 
that time nearly all the milk was converted into 
butter, and in that form found its way to the New 
York market. In 1842, the first year after it was 
opened, 388,605 quarts were transported over it 
to this city, but the following twelve months, the 
quantity was increased to 3,181,505 quarts ; and so 
profitable did the farmers find the business, that 
those who lived sufficiently near the road to bene- 
fit by the facilities it ofi'ered, abandoned the manu- 
facture of butter, and engaged solely in the milk 
trade and the raising of cattle. The large number 
who abandoned the former occupation, caused, at 
the time, a considerable diminution in the amount 
of butter, and a consequent increase in the price. 
Tlie first year, on account of the inconsiderable 
quantity sent over the road, but one train was run 
for milk, and that was the passenger or evening 
train. While this arrangement continued, the 
farmers did not wholly abandon the manufacture 
of butter. They churned the morning's " mess," 



Opposition of Swill Milk Dealers. 89 

and sent the evening's to the raih'oacl station, for 
transportation to ISTew York. In 1843, the com- 
pany commenced running two trains, one in the 
morning and the other in the evening, thus enabling 
the farmers to devote their whole atttention to the 
one business. At this time great alarm prevailed 
among the swill milkmen in the city, who had rea- 
sonable fears that the introduction of the pure 
country article would diminish their profits. They 
endeavored to prejudice their customers against it 
by false reports ; but, despite their opposition, the 
sale rapidly increased, and the third year 5,095,762 
quarts were received over the road from Goshen 
and other stations. Before the opening of the Erie 
and Harlem railroads, swill milk was the only kind 
used by our people, except a few thousand quarts 
of pure milk supplied by farmers living near the city ; 
and those who wanted it were glad to purchase it 
for six, eight, and even ten cents a quart, for which 
they always obtained it as it came from th« cow. 

Of the 12,610,556 quarts sent over the Erie road 
last year, a large quantity came by the ITewburgh 
branch. A considerable supply, however, is still 
received by boats from ISTewburgh, as stated in a 



90 The Milk Trade. 

previous cliapter, although the fare, we believe, by 
either mode of conveyance, is the same. 

The stabling of cows, during the winter season, is 
a matter of great concern to the country dairymen. 
They are attended to with the most assiduous care, 
their stables kept scruplously clean, and a profusion 
of straw strewed on the ground-floor for their bed- 
ding. As the yield of milk in winter is nearly one 
half less than during the summer season, the supply 
for city consumption is insufficient. To increase 
the quantity, artificial means have been resorted to, 
and it is a matter of regret that some dairymen 
near I^ewburgh feed their cattle partially on grain 
obtained from some breweries or distilleries in that 
city. This is a most pernicious practice, and if per- 
severed in, will inevitably prejudice om' people 
against countr}^ milk. As a matter of principle as 
well as interest, therefore, the other farmers should 
discountenance the practice, and do all in their 
power to abolish it. Grain is cheaper than any 
other kind of food which can be procured during 
the winter, but it is most injurious in its efiects 
upon the quality of the milk, and no consideration 
should induce the farmer to use it. If the profits 



Feeding of Cattle. 91 



are not sufficient to repay him for liis time and 
trouble, there are very few who would not be 
willing to pay a cent per quart more for the milk, 
to procure it pure and unadulterated. 

Hay is the general food of cattle during the winter, 
but some farmers feed their cows on ground meal, 
corn, oats, and buckwheat. Tliese are sometimes 
ground together and given to the cattle in a dry state, 
but it is considered by some that the yield of milk is 
always increased by scalding this kind of feed. 

An intelligent farmer, with whom we are ac- 
quainted, and who has a large experience in the 
treatment of cattle, says that a great improvement 
would be effected by steaming the hay and other 
fodder. This would in a measure, he thinks, brino- 
back the hay to its original condition, and increase 
the quantity without injuring the quality of the 
milk. If this should prove successful, there is no 
reason why we should not have as large a supply in 
winter as in summer. Tlie swill milkmen manufac- 
ture about the same quantity the whole year round 
and in the former season, when there is a decrease 
of one half in the supply from the country, they 
do not, of course, meet with the same competition 



92 The Milk Trade. 

in the sale of their milk. Let the farmers through- 
out Orange, Westchester, and other comities through 
which the Erie, Harlem, and Hudson River rail- 
roads run, establish associations throughout this 
city for the sale of the pure country milk, and the 
swill milk dairies will rapidly disappear. Tliere are 
three or four associations in 'New York already, and 
their business is in a most flourishing condition. 
They can sell all they get from the country, for their 
custom is only limited by the quantity of milk which 
they are able to furnish. The farmers should not 
intrust the sale of their milk to small dealers, with- 
out first making an agreement that they shall sell it 
pure, for it too frequently happens tliat they so 
weaken it with water, or adulterate it with drugs, 
that hardly in one case out of ten do they give 
it to their customers as they obtain it themselves. 
Where the farmers can not establish associations 
they would find it more profitable to have it sold 
by agents in the city on commission. They now 
obtain but two cents per quart in summer, and three 
in winter, the purchaser paying a half cent for trans- 
portation ; but by paying one cent commission their 
profits might be increased about twenty per cent. 



(Cljaptn* liiEB* 

Estimate of Capital Invested in the Milk Business— Yearly Receipts from the 
Sale of all kinds of Milk. 

There are very few departments of industry in this 
city whose capital is larger than that invested in the 
milk business. The number of farmers engaged 
in it is about 500, as stated in a previous chapter, 
and the number of cows possessed by these may be 
estimated at a little more than 10,000. Calculating 
the value of every animal at twenty-five dollars, and 
allowing three acres of grazing land to each, we 
have a total of $250,000 and 30,000 acres of land. 
To these must be added the cost of the cans used for 
the transportation of the milk, and the value of 
horses, carts, etc., employed in its distribution 
throughout the city. 

From persons who have been engaged in the trade 
for many years, we learn tliat the number of horses 



94 The Milk Tkade. 

employed on tlie various routes throughout the city 
is 450. Some of these are valuable animals, worth 
from $150 to $200, the average value of each, 
however, may be set clown at $100. This gives 
the total value of horses alone at $45,000, which 
may be regarded as a moderate estimate. Tlie 
work which these animals have to perform is not 
of a very laborious nature. 

Each horse has to go over a distance of about 
ten miles a day in serving the routes, so that 
the actual distance traveled by the whole number 
owned by those who sell pure country milk only, 
may be stated at 4,500 miles, which is about thrice 
the length of the passage from this port to 'New Or- 
leans. Of the milk wagons there are 375, each of 
which, including the harness, is worth $100. This 
may be considered the average value of each ve- 
hicle, but there are many worth twenty and thirty 
dollars more, the difference being caused by the 
size and quality. The disproportion between the 
number of horses and wagons is accounted for by 
the fact, that two horses are required to draw the 
large wagons. The cost of the cans, of which there 
are about ten thousand altogether owned by the 



Capital Invested. 95 

dairymen in the country and the milk dealers in the 
city, is estimated at ^30,000, or three dollars for each 
can. The loss caused by the wear of these is very 
considerable, making a reduction of about five per 
cent, per annum on the profits obtained from the 
sale of the milk. 

There are at present 250 companies and single 
dealers receiving milk from the country, some of 
which sell over 6,000 quarts daily, and others not 
more than two or three hundred. A large number 
of the restam-ants, hotels, and boarding-honses, are 
supplied by these associations, but a considerable 
proportion make their contracts with farmers, and 
procure it direct from the country. In this way 
they obtain their milk for three and four cents a 
quart, both summer and winter, which is about 
twenty per cent, less than they could purchase it 
from the milk dealers in the city. 

The amount paid for pure country milk in ISTew 
York in 1851, was a little over $1,800,000, of which 
about one fourth was paid for the water with which 
the article was diluted. The number of quarts 
(including, of course, the water, of which the milk 
dealers, as we have intimated, always give a most 



96 The Milk Tkade. 

liberal supply), consumed during the same period, 
was about 36,000,000. The aggregate amount 
paid for the transportation of this quantity, over 
the railroads, or by boats, was about $145,000. 

These details relate only to the sale of what is 
called pure country milk, which forms about one 
third the quantity consumed, the other two thirds 
being the produce of the swill and grain stables in 
ISTew York and the adjoining cities, to which allu- 
sion has been made. The number of swill-fed 
cows is about 13,000, but their value is, as a 
general thing, considerably less than those from the 
country. In the market they will sell for more than 
one fourth less, but when fattened for sale, after 
they have become dry, and are so fortunate as to 
escape the diseases incident to their peculiar treat- 
ment, it is said that they will bring nearly as high 
a price as some of the best grass-fed cattle. 

The fact of their being fed on grain and slops is, 
however, sufficient to depreciate them in the market. 
Allowing, therefore, about fifteen dollars as the 
value of each animal, we have a total of $195,000, 
or $55,000 less than the worth of the total number 
of country cattle. Yet with this slight decrease in 



Profits of Swill Milk. 97 



the amount of capital invested, there is an im- 
mensely disproportionate augmentation in the pro- 
fits realized, the profit on the swill milk being about 
two thirds greater than that realized on the sale of 
the pure country article. 

It should be remembered, however, in this calcu- 
lation, that it is adulterated in a proportion of more 
than one fourth, and also that the expenses of swill 
milkmen are much less than that of farmers. It is 
true, a large number of their cattle die, but they 
have not to pay for the transportation of their milk, 
and the saving in this respect alone would more 
than make up for the labor, time, and money ex- 
pended in sending it over the railroads, to say noth- 
ing of the wear and tear of cans, etc. The number 
of quarts daily produced by these establishments, 
assisted by the small milk dealers, in whose hands 
it undergoes a remarkable increase, may be fairly 
estimated at 180,000 or 65,700,000 quarts yearly. 
Calculating this amount at four and a half 
cents per quart, we have a grand total of nearly 
$3,000,000. 

There are of course, a great many persons em- 
ployed in the distribution of this milk, in N'ew 

5 



98 The Milk Trade. 



York, Williamsburgli, Jersey City, besides those 
whose business it is to attend to the feeding of the 
cattle. They number altogether about 1,200, eacli 
having a separate route to serve. The weekly 
salary of each of these men amounts to about six 
dollars. The number of horses employed does not 
exceed 800 at the utmost, the total value of which 
might be set down at $80,000, which, by the 
addition of wagons, cans, etc., is increased to about 
$180,000. The following table presents as accu- 
rate a statement as it is possible to give, of the 
total amount of property invested in the business : 

Total value ol" horses employed in the distribu- 
tion of both kinds of milk $125,000 

Value of carts, cans, and other utensils 184,000 

Value of cows in country and city 445,000 

Total $754,000 

Here we have a total of $754,000, the full amount 
of capital invested in what may be called the 
movable property or stock, independent of the still 
larger amount in the form of land, houses, etc., or 
immovable property. The total yearly receipts 
derived from the sale of milk may be summed up 
in the following manner : 



Total Milk Receipts. 99 

Amount received for pure country milk $1,350,000 

Amount received for pure swill milk 2 ,550,000 

Amount received for water, chalk, magnesia, molasses, 
etc 1,250,000 

Total $5,150,000 

Little do the people of E'ew York, and of the 
cities in its vicinity, imagine the vast amount they, 
pay yearly for this one article of food, and but for 
tlie statement before us, which may be regarded as 
reliable, it would be almost incredible. Tlie im- 
mense sum of more than $3,000,000 yearly ex- 
pended in the purchase of an article of the most 
deleterious character ! Should the great mortality 
among children be any longer a subject of wonder? 

It would be wrong, however, to suppose that all 
this milk is consumed in its original form ; perhaps 
not more than a proportion of one third of a quart, 
daily, to each individual in the aggregate popula- 
tion of K^ew York, and the adjoining cities, is so 
used, and of this the largest amount is consumed 
by infants. Of the 300,000 quarts'^ of all kinds sold 
in this way, the greatest proportion is used in 

* This is the largest quantity sold in any one day during the 
Bummer months, when the supply is more abundant than at any 
other season. 



100 The Milk Trade. 

hotels, restaurants, and in the manufacture of all 
kinds of confectionery. In the summer season 
particularly, there is a great demand for it in the 
form of ice cream, and it is said that one of the 
largest saloons in the city used over 500 quarts in 
one day, in the manufacture of this article alone. 
It is thus made a source of perhaps still greater 
profits to others, than it is to the original dealers. 



Necessity for an Ordinance to regulate the Sale of Milk, and to prevent its Adul- 
teration — History of the Orange County Milk Association. 

In the last chapter we endeavored to show the 
great importance of the milk trade in this city, by 
presenting statistics in relation to the capital in- 
vested in it, the amount yearly expended in the 
consumption of milk, and the number of persons 
engaged in the business. The attention of the pub- 
lic has been frequently called to the existence of 
the swill stables in and about ISTew York, the sale 
of the milk produced in these establishments, and 
the injurious consequences resulting from its use ; 
but little or nothing has, so far, been effected to- 
ward the removal of these grievances. 

Other matters, of much less importance to the 
public interest, have enlisted the particular consid- 
eration of our law makers, while this one, affecting 



102 The Milk T k a d e . 

so strongly as it does the health of the citj, has 
been strangely neglected. An ordinance was passed 
some years ago, prohibiting the sale of diseased 
meat, under a penalty of twenty-five dollars, and 
Congress has made a law punishing also by fine the 
sale of adulterated drugs. Tlie use of adulterated 
drugs is not attended with tlie same serious conse- 
quences as the use of impure milk, for the ingre- 
dients employed in their adulteration are generally 
of a harmless nature, merely diminishing the 
strength, without injuriously affecting the quality. 
But it is quite different with the production and 
adulteration of swill milk and what comes from the 
country. 

What, then, should be done to put a stop to the 
grievances complained of? It is said, that notwith- 
standing the stringent measures adopted by Con- 
gress to prevent the sale of adulterated drugs, the 
forbidden trafiic is still carried on as extensively as 
ever, and that a large amount of diseased meat may 
be found exposed for sale in the stalls of some 
butchers, in defiance of the ordinance which pun- 
ishes the practice with a penalty. In Paris, where 
formerly a great quantity of impure milk was con- 



Laws ^-oe Milkmen. 103 



sumed, much greater than in l^ew York, a douane, 
or custom-house, for the collection of duties on milk, 
has been established. All the milk that passes 
through this custom-house is examined before the 
owners are allowed to distribute it. This system is 
very successful in Paris, but in JS'ew York it might 
be considered of very doubtful utility, in conse- 
quence of the unfavorable feeling with which 
custom-houses are generally regarded by the peo- 
ple; besides which, it might be converted into a 
subject for the pecuniary speculations and advant- 
age of politicians, and thus be diverted from the 
beneficial purposes for which it should be estab- 
lished. We merely mention the existence of such 
an institution in Paris, not as an example for our 
imitation, but to show the importance which the 
municipal government of that city attaches to the 
milk trade. 

'Next to the establishment of country milk asso- 
ciations, which was recommended in a former chap- 
ter, an ordinance for the licensing of milk wagons 
would be the most effective means that could be 
adopted to prevent the sale of unhealthy milk. To 
render it tlmroughly effectual, it would be necessary 



104 The Milk Trade. 

to include in its requirements a provision imposing 
a penalty of twenty dollars upon every driver who 
might be detected in selling the prohibited article. 
As in the granting of the licenses to the drivers of 
other vehicles, a certificate of recommendation of 
good character is required, it would be well to 
make some such rule for them. 

In this way many of the abuses which at present 
exist among the drivers of milk wagons might be 
remedied. If an ordinance of this kind were once 
passed, it would aiford a means of protection to the 
consumers of milk, who, in cases of fraud in the 
quality of the article with which they were supplied, 
could prefer a complaint before the city marshal or 
other officer, invested with the power of punishing 
such offences. At present the people have no 
means of redress except in the general police laws, 
which can with difficulty be brought to bear upon 
offenses of this character. The milk w^agons have 
no numbers upon them, their drivers appear to be 
independent of all law, make use of many of the 
privileges possessed by other cartmen, and help in 
wearing out the pavements without paying a single 
cent to the city treasury. Why they should be 



A Milk Association. 105 



exempted from the same regulations wliich govern 
other drivers would be difficult to determine. 

An ordinance similar to that we have briefly 
sketched, with one or two additional provisions, 
that experience or further consideration on the sub- 
ject might suggest to secure its successful operation, 
together with the establishment of milk associations 
throughout 'New York and the adjoining cities, 
would do more toward the suppression of the sale of 
unhealthy milk, and of the swill nuisances, than all 
that has ever been written upon the subject. Some- 
thing practical must be done before we can be sup- 
plied with good, healthy milk. For those who are 
concerned in this matter, and who might desire to 
engage in an enterprise like that we have suggested, 
the following account of the Orange County Milk 
Association may possess some interest : 

Tlie association was established in March, ISM, 
at a time when the strongest opposition was mani- 
fested by the swill milk dairies against the intro- 
duction and sale of pure country milk. The stock 
was divided into twenty shares, of $250 each, 
making a capital of $5000. The inexperience of 
the association in the business was attended with 

. 5* 



106 The Milk Teade. 

serious pecuniary loss for the first year or two. 
The Erie Railroad had been opened but a short 
time before, and the facilities for the transportation 
of the milk were so deficient, as to cause much 
irregularity in its delivery to the association. 
Added to this difiiculty was another, equally dis- 
couraging to the company, and detrimental to the 
successful prosecution of their business — the farm- 
ers knew nothing about cooling the milk, a pro- 
cess so very necessary to prevent it from becoming 
sour. 

When these obstacles in the way of their success 
were removed, the business became profitable, and 
the proprietors were enabled to contend against the 
hostility of the swill milkmen with better fortune. 
The proprietorship of the concern changed two or 
three times, until it finally came into the possession 
of the present owners, of whom there are ten alto- 
gether. Under their management the business 
has largely increased, and the stock is now valued 
at ten thousand dollars. They are under the gov- 
ernment of certain rules, and their affairs are con- 
ducted, to use a stereotyped phrase of the day, with 
"punctuality and dispatch." All questions are 



EuLEs AND Regulations. 107 



decided by a majority vote, with the exception of 
alterations in the rules, which require eight votes 
to render them constitutional. 

Such business matters as are not provided for 
otherwise are left to the management and decision 
of a committee of three, who are also required to 
report the delinquencies of any member who may 
be found negligent in the performance of his duty. 
This committee is elected for one year, and is itself 
responsible to the association for all its acts. The 
committee elect a chairman, whom they intrust with 
the executive power, and who presides over all the 
meetings of the company. ISTot more than four or 
five members live in the city, the remainder attend- 
ing to the business in the country. One of these is 
elected as country agent, whose duty it is to make 
all contracts and arrangements for the necessary 
supply of milk, and its transportation to the city. 

Tlie country members are generally farmers, 
and supply a large proportion of the milk sold 
by the association, making up the deficiency 
by purchasing from other farmers living in their 
neighborhood. The city agent attends to the 
sale of the milk in Kew York, Brooklyn, and 



108 The Milk Trade. 

Jersey City ; gives instructions to the drivers as to 
the manner and time of its distribution ; collects 
and pays all bills, rendering an account of his 
transactions at the end of every month, when the 
books of the establishment undergo a regular inves- 
tigation, and the dividends are made. One half 
the profits are distributed jpro rata among the stock- 
holders, and the other half deposited in a savings 
bank or invested in public stocks for a sinking 
fund, from which the stock account of the associa- 
tion may be replenished by a vote of the majority. 

All contracts for over one hundred and fifty 
dollars require a majority of votes to render them 
valid, and then they must be certified by the presi- 
dent. 

The Orange County Milk Association transacts 
the most extensive business of any establishment of 
the kind in the city, distributing at present 7,000 
quarts of milk daily. Of this quantity, 6,000 
quarts are obtained from Orange county, and 1,000 
quarts from Dutchess county. To distribute this, 
twelve wagons are kept constantly employed, each 
of which serves between ^yq and six hundred quarts 
daily. A collector is regularly in attendance in 



Extensive Custom. 109 



the office of the association, on the corner of Wash- 
ington and Jay streets, to wait npon families at 
their places of residence, to furnish tickets, which 
are received by the drivers in payment for the 
quantity of milk served, and to rectify all causes of 
complaint. 

The quantity distributed among private families 
every day amounts to 2,500 quarts, and the remain- 
ing 4,500 are purchased by hotels, restaurants, and 
grocers. Among the customers of the association 
are the E'ew York Hospital, and a large number of 
physicians. The establishment of associations of 
this description in New York would be marked by 
a decrease in the infant mortality, and should be 
encouraged as the most effectual means of removing 
the abuses to which we have referred. 



Importance of Milk as an article of Diet — Infant Mortality produced by Impure 
Milk — Chemical Analysis of different kinds of Milk — A Case of Fatal Milk 
Sickness— Nutritious Properties of Milk — Conclusion. 

" Milk," says a writer on the subject in Les An- 
ndles W Hygienne Publique de Paris ^ " is an object 
of great importance to man. It is the first food 
nature provides for him, and during his life he 
makes frequent use of it, sometimes from choice, 
and sometimes from necessity, when his digestive 
organs are impaired by sickness. It is not, there- 
fore, wonderful," adds the writer, " that in every 
age this liquid should have attracted considerable 
attention." In its natural state, it is regarded by 
physicians as one of the most nutritious articles of 
human food, and is therefore d6siral:le for persons 
of a weak and sickly constitution. But when ren- 
dered impure by adulteration, or produced by arti- 
ficial means, its effects on the health of sick persons, 



Milk Sickness. Ill 

and particularly on the health of children, is most 
deleterious, not unfrequently causing death. In 
New York, where a large proportion of the children 
are dependent upon cow's milk mainly for subsist- 
ence, unusual mortality prevails among them. In 
the weekly report of the City Inspector, the deaths 
among children between one and ten years of age 
is often two thirds of the whole, and always more 
than one half. Various names are given to the 
diseases which have caused their death, such as 
marasmus, consumption, diarrhea, dysentery, etc., 
but a considerable proportion of these diseases is 
produced by the use of adulterated and swill milk. 
Physicians who have any practical experience can 
tell from the appearance of a sick or unhealthy 
child if its ill health has been caused by it, and if 
it has, will immediately order a change in its food. 
In the nursery hospital on Randall's Island, 
where there are between two and three hundred 
children, kept at the expense of the city, the great- 
est circumspection is exhibited in their treatment 
and diet. The quantity of milk consumed monthly 
exceeds five thousand quarts, all of which is pure 
country milk, furnished as it comes from the cow. 



112 The Milk Trade. 



The good effects resulting from its use are visible 
in the health of the children, and the entire absence 
of any of those diseases which are invariably pro- 
duced by impure milk. In proportion to the popu- 
lation of the institution, the yearly mortality is less 
than one half that among the children of the city. 
Tliis fact is mainly attributable to the cause we 
have assigned. 

The slop milk is remarkable for the great length 
of time which it takes to coagulate, and for the 
small proportion of butter and other nutritious in- 
gredients which it contains. The butter which it 
affords is whiter than that obtained from any other 
kind, and in forming associates itself with more 
curd and whey. Dr. Keid, who was formerly Pro- 
fessor of Chemistry in the l^ew York Hospital, and 
who has analyzed various kinds of milk, says, that 
it requires ^ye hours longer than Orange county 
milk to coagulate. 

This peculiar property, which renders it so dele- 
terious, and frequently so fatal to the health of 
children, requiring, as it must, such unnatural ex- 
ertion of the digestive organs, causes dysentery, 
diarrhea, and sometimes convulsions. The follow- 



Analysis of Milk. 113 

ing table presents an analysis, made by Professor 
Reid, of six descriptions of milk : 

No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 

Water 873.00 860.00 869.10 876.10 888.00 898.00 

Butter 30.00 35.00 15.00 14.00 13.00 10.00 

Casein 48.20 45.00 62.00 69.00 50.00 45.00 

Sugar of milk 43.90 53.00 44.00 42.00 41.00 40.00 

Phosphate of lime 2.31 3.35 4.20 4.00 3.20 2.80 

Phosphate of magnesia .42 .76 1.84 1.56 1.41 1.20 

Phosphate of iron 07 .09 .12 .11 .10 .07 

Chloride of potassium. 1.44 2.00 2.97 2.51 2.46 2.35 

Chloride of sodium 24 .36 .44 .42 .43 .40 

Soda in combination 

with the casein 42 .50 .43 .40 .40 .30 

1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 

ISTo. 1 is an analysis of European milk ; No. 2 of 
Orange county milk ; and 'Noq. 3, 4, 5, and 6, are 
analyses of four samples of distillery milk. From 
this table it appears that the Orange county milk is 
superior even to that produced in Europe, if the 
kind analyzed may be regarded as a fair specimen ; 
but so different is the swill milk from either, that 
the proportions of its component parts differ very 
materially. It does not contain one half the amount 
of butter, while the other ingredients of which it is 
composed, and which are not so very essential as 
nutrients, are in greater quantity. 



114 The Milk Tkade. 

The unnatural clisproj)ortion in which the parts 
are mixed, may also be considered as one of the 
causes of its injurious effects upon the human sys- 
tem. Dr. Charles A. Lee, in a letter published in 
an excellent work on milk, by R. M. Hartley, Esq., 
gives an account of a patient under his charge, who 
^v^as afflicted with what might not improperly be 
termed milk sickness. The boy, he says, was six 
years of age, and had been literally brought up 
on still-slop milk. His parents kept a few cows in 
the upper part of the city, which they fed upon 
swill, and supported themselves by the sale of their 
milk. He was always pale and sickly, had a rickety, 
bloated appearance, and his sunken eyes and hag- 
gard expression of countenance reminded one con- 
tinually of a little, premature old man. About a 
year before his death he began to fall away in flesh ; 
grew weak and irritable ; had little appetite, and so 
languished till he died. A post-mortem examina- 
tion resulted in some remarkable discoveries ; there 
was an almost entire absence of blood from the 
system ; the muscles were pale, flabby, and greatly 
reduced in size ; tlie blood-vessels about the 
heart, which are generally loaded with blood, 



A Fatal Case. 115 

were collapsed and emiDty, and the heart itself was 
soft. 

The principal marks of disease he found, were in 
the mesenteric glands, which are situated near the 
chyliferous vessels, through which all the nutriment 
that is absorbed has to pass, in its passage to the 
thoracic duct. These glands were most extensively 
diseased, more than ten* times their usual size, and 
many of them in a high state of inflammation. 
This fact accounted for the gradual emaciation of 
the child, his want of strength, and ultimate 
death. 

This is only one case out of hundreds which 
might be related, in proof of the fatal effects 
which generally result from the use of swill 
milk. 

When it is adulterated it becomes, of course, 
still less innutritions — the process of digestion is 
rendered more difficult, and the death of the child 
hastened. It also affects the teeth of children, 
causing them to decay prematurely, and making 
them so soft that in some cases they can be cut with 
a dentist's instrument ; while the teeth of children 
who have been properly nourished, and whose con- 



116 The Milk Trade. 

stitutions are sound, possess almost a diamond-like 
hardness. 

Good milk contains, as is well known, all the 
elements necessary not only for the nutrition, but 
the growth of the body. Out of the casein of milk 
are formed the albumen and fibrin of the blood, 
and the proteinaceous and gelatinous tissues. The 
butter serves for the formation of fat, and contrib- 
utes, with the sugar, to support the animal heat 
by yielding carbon and hydrogen to be consumed 
in the lungs. The earthy salts are necessary for the 
development of the osseous or bony system ; the 
iron is required for the blood corpuscles, and the 
hair ; while the alkaline chloride furnishes the 
hydrochloric acid of the gastric juice. Ewe's milk 
contains the largest amount of nutritive matter 
(casein and butter) ; but on this account is less 
easy of digestion, and therefore unfitted for dys- 
peptics. Goat's milk is considered next to this, but 
is also unfit for persons afflicted with dyspepsia ; it 
is, however, said to be useful in checking obstinate 
diarrhea. Ass's milk is the least nutritious, but 
the most easy of digestion, and with the exception 
of human milk, it is the richest in sugar of milk. 



Important Medical Opinion. 117 

In the convalescence from acute maladies, in con- 
sumptive cases and chronic diseases of the digestive 
organs^ it is a most valuable aliment. 

Good milk, when examined by the microscope, is 
found to contain only spherical, transparent glo- 
bules, soluble in alkalies and ether. It also 3delds, 
says Dr. Pereira, in his Treatise on Food and Diet, 
a iiocculent precipitate with acetic acid. It is not a 
difficult matter for those who have been accustomed 
to the use of good milk to detect the adulterated or 
swill milk by its peculiar taste and smell, but with 
those who have never used any other it is quite dif- 
ferent. We heard of a man once who havine: been 
served with pure country milk for the first time, and 
not being able to account for its rich yellow color, 
and the unusual quantity of cream, ordered it to be 
thrown out as unfit for use, and it required consider- 
able trouble to j)ersuade him of his error. To prove 
that swill milk is generally regarded by the medical 
faculty as most injurious to the health of children, 
it is only necessary to refer our readers to the fol- 
lowing statement, which was, at the solicitation of 
Mr. Hartley, signed by fifty-eight medical gentle- 
men of this city : "The undersigned, physicians of 



118 The Milk Trade. 

the city of 'New York, being requested to express 
our opinion in relation to the milk of cows fed chief- 
ly on distillery slop, have no hesitation in stating, 
that we believe such milk to be extremely detri- 
mental to the health, especially of young children, 
as it not only contains too little nutriment for the 
purposes of food, but appears to possess unhealthy 
and injurious properties, owing in part, probably, 
to the confinement of the cows, and the bad air 
which they consequently have to breathe, as well as 
the unnatural and pernicious nature of the slop on 
which they are fed." 

For many of the scientific facts which we have 
given in this chapter we are indebted to Mr. Hart- 
ley's Essay on Milk, A Treatise on Food and Diet, 
by Charles A. Lee, Annates Wllygienne Puhlique 
de Paris^ and other works. 



l-Reja'30 



